Shouting at the World
by Alcibie
Summary: Donna and The Doctor get a few shocks on their return to Earth. Follows on from Less than Human
1. Chapter 1

She was brunette, pale, with blue eyes and a pretty smile but the most remarkable thing about her was that she was completely unremarkable. Her neutral-coloured clothes and the canvas shopping bag at one side, signified nothing more or else than everyday human life.

It was slightly disturbing, Jack Harkness thought, that the Feyad looked like no one he knew. They were supposed to take the form of the viewer's deepest desire. Worse than that, or maybe better (he hadn't decided) they were supposed to know the deepest desires of anyone who looked upon them. It was kind of interesting to watch Martha and Gwen surveying her with a mixture of intrigue and apprehension. Maybe, to it, he was a blank. It wouldn't be the first time. She looked like a thousand human women he'd seen. His deepest desire indeed! No way were his tastes anything that ordinary!

Locked up, she looked slightly obscene, as if they'd suddenly developed an interest in kidnapping any old passer-by and throwing her into the vaults alongside snarling weevils. The only interesting point to note there of course, that the weevil had not the slightly impact on her. She had glanced once in its direction then turned away, as if to say, _is that really the best you can do?_

"We need to check if there's any more of them," he said to no one in particular. The thought of dozens of these creatures running about and driving Cardiff's population into a frenzy was more than he thought his brain could handle at the moment. It was all too probable too. This one had been detected standing, just standing in middle of a street, for God's sake as if waiting to be found, or to do untold damage. He saw Martha glance sharply at him and knew that his mood of late had not gone unnoticed.

"You think this latest rift activity might bring more of them?" Gwen asked.

"God knows what else it'll bring," he said gloomily, "never seen this much activity in the space of two days."

"Would do we do with him in the long run?" Martha asked.

Jack raised an eyebrow.

"Him?"

"Yeah..."

"Out of interest, what, or who does he look like?" Jack asked teasingly.

"You're looking at him! Oh!" She clapped a hand over her mouth as if afraid she'd said too much.

"That's the beauty of their make-up," he said, almost dreamily, "try and study them and the students tie themselves up in knots trying not to reveal what they see."

"Are we agreed it's a him then?" Gwen asked, carefully not looking at either of them.

The creature was smiling, clearly thoroughly entertained.

"Why not ask?" Jack said. He turned to meet the eyes of the seated woman.

"So? Are you actually male or female?"

She smiled engagingly back at him and said nothing.

"Can they communicate?" Gwen asked.

"Not with us, apparently."

"So no one knows what they really look like?" Martha asked.

"No. I don't think they even know themselves. All they ever see when they look at someone is what they want to see."

"Psychologists could have a field day with them," Gwen said.

"And doctors," Jack added, looking at Martha who looked completely fascinated with their new arrival.

"Go on, put your eyes back in and see if there's anything unusual going on," he said, "believe me, we really don't want a hoard of them running around."

"No," Martha said dreamily. Gwen glanced sharply at her and took her arm.

"Come on," she said.

Left alone with the creature, Jack met its eyes. The eyes were the only things now that made it look different, he thought. But he couldn't really say why. He rubbed his forehead tiredly. Today really wasn't his day.

She stood up and walked over to the glass, watching him intently. He moved his hand back to his side and regarded her steadily. On second thoughts, she wasn't really as unremarkable as he'd first thought, he decided. Those eyes! He moved a little closer.

She stared at him for a second longer then held out a hand.

"No, sorry, sweetheart," he said heartily, "that's not going to work on me."

Then he realised she was pointing at his jacket pocket.

"Neat trick," he told her sternly. "But you know nothing about me. _Nothing_."

He turned and walked back through the dark hallway, glancing back once to check her reaction. But her face was calm and quiet. She sat neatly, turned slightly in his direction, as if quite confident that he would return.

...........................................

"He's not acting like himself," Martha said in a low voice to Gwen, "and he doesn't even look right. I mean, it's not like him to be tired, or ill. Have you ever seen...?"

"Just because he can't die doesn't mean he has to feel 100% all the time," Gwen said, sounding slightly defensive.

"He and Ianto were arguing last night. Just when I was leaving. It sounded pretty heated."

"Well, that's not exactly unheard of."

"No but it made me realise, it was the first time in days he sounded anyway animated!"

"Maybe he misses the Doctor and the travelling. Last time, he was a bit the same."

"No. It's more than that. I have a feeling." Martha looked away in the direction of the vault.

"Do you think he's ok down there, with that creature? He might be a bit...vulnerable."

"Jack's not vulnerable! He's dealt with much worse!"

"I know. It's just...What?" She pointed to the screen that Gwen was suddenly staring intently at.

"Nothing."

"Come on...what?"

"Like I said, _nothing_. Literally. No reports of any sort. No aliens, no ghosts, no crackpots. It's never happened before."

"Quiet day?" Martha suggested.

"Yeah, I suppose." Gwen looked slightly uneasy. "Guess I'll just do the usual checks on Chiswick and..."

"You think there's something wrong with Donna or the Doctor?"

"No, I'm sure there isn't. We've started keeping a special eye on anywhere or anyone connected with him."

Martha looked at the next screen, which showed up every angle of the vault. At the end of the corridor, Jack stood near the door, as if unsure which way to go. After a moment, he lowered his head and continued walking back towards them, his face completely preoccupied.

"Yeah. That might be no harm," she said vaguely.

......................................................................................

The TARDIS shuddered violently, almost flinging the Doctor to the ground. He clutched the controls, pulling one lever sharply downwards and staring around wildly.

"What's wrong now?" Donna asked irritably. After hours of being tossed about in her bed like a ship on high seas, she had moved back to the console room in the hopes of finding things calm in the eye of the storm, so to speak.

"You said she'd been through a lot," Jenny suggested.

"Yeah. All this messing with time and huon energy has an effect on the atmosphere as well. But it shouldn't be too much," the Doctor said. "You'd think after a good night's rest..."

"...which is more than we've had," Donna muttered.

"...usually she's fine again. It's like she doesn't want to go where we want to go. Come on!" He pulled down on a red lever with all his might and as the ship began to sound once again, Donna could swear that in the hum, was a sigh, the sort of sigh she used to give to her mother when asked to do something she _really_ didn't want to do.

"So, where will you go first?" she asked.

"Oh I don't know," the Doctor said, "we might do a little tour of the 20th century, I thought, to start with! Sure you don't want to come? You could visit home after. Plenty of time!"

"No, it's alright," she said. She was really overdue for a visit home. Besides, she knew that the Doctor and Jenny needed some time to themselves. It was only right.

"How long will you be going for?" Jenny asked.

"Whatever. A day or two."

"We'll bring you back something! And your grandfather! What do you think he'd like?"

"I think what he'd most like is to see you two when you pick me up," she said. "Are you going to show Jenny Torchwood?"

"Yeah," the Doctor said slowly, "thought we might look in on Jack." He frowned slightly and Donna knew he was still worried about the way Jack had looked when they dropped him back.

"Yeah, that's probably no harm," she said.

They fell silent as the TARDIS settled into position.

"Are we here?" Jenny asked.

"Yep. Chiswick. Right time and everything. She finally decided to co-operate!" The Doctor patted the controls affectionately. "Don't worry, old girl. We'll let you get plenty of rest."

Again, Donna could have sworn that the distant hum sounded remarkably like a discontented "tut". She gathered up her bags and Jenny came over to give her a hug.

"See you soon," she said, the slightest hint of a question in her voice.

"Yeah," she said, "and enjoy yourself!" She turned to the Doctor.

"Don't go getting into trouble without me!"

"As if I would!" He grinned at her. "Say hello to Wilf, and your mother. And maybe...best to not mention the concussion until I'm well gone, eh?"

"See you!" She opened the door and stepped outside, marvelling as always, at the sheer familiarity of her street. While she'd been travelling through space, stuck in the spaceship amidst the threat of the asteroid, seeing new worlds, new times, whole new generations, all the while her old life was still here. Cars were passing up and down, people stepped in and out of houses and shops, things that she'd once never really noticed, safe in the security that nothing could change them.

She waited until the TARDIS vanished slowly from sight (still sounding sluggish, she had to admit) and ran up the path to her house, wondering if anyone would be there. No one answered the door and slightly disappointed at not being able to make an entrance, fished in her handbag for her front door key.

But the key wouldn't work. For a crazy moment, she wondered if, enraged at her recent silence, they'd had the locks changed. Frustrated, she took it out of the keyhole and glanced into the sitting room window.

The television was on. One of them had to be in. Maybe Gramps was upstairs and hadn't heard her. She ducked around the side of the house and headed towards the back garden.

The back door was unlocked and slightly open. She stepped inside and stopped dead.

Her grandfather and mother sat at the kitchen table, drinking tea and making no indication that they had heard or seen her.

"Very funny!" She threw the bags at her feet. "Come on! I've _been_ in touch! Mostly."

Her grandfather reached across the table and turned up the volume on the radio.

"You know I'm alright with the Doctor!"

Her mother threw a swift, vague glance in her direction and turned away again.

"I meant to get home before now, really. Gramps?"

"Is the pot still hot, love?" he asked her mother.

"Should be." Her mother stood, wincing slightly as she did. She walked towards Donna but passed her and pushed the door closed once again before pressing the kettle.

"What's wrong? Can't you hear me?" Donna asked, a cold feeling beginning to seep through her.

"Mom!"

Her mother walked back to the table and filled her granddad's cup.

"Is this a joke?" Even as she said the words, she knew it wasn't. Neither of them were that good at keeping a straight face and really, her mother had never been one for the silent treatment. Words had always been her weapon of choice.

"Look at me!" She ran to the table and slammed her hand on it.

Neither of them glanced up.

Terrified now and hardly knowing what she was doing, Donna reached for the tea-pot. But she couldn't get a grip on it. For a horrible moment, she thought her hand would just pass through it. She could feel it but she couldn't touch it. Lifting it seemed an impossibility, as if suddenly it was the heaviest object in the world. Panicking, she rushed to the back door and tried to open it but the same thing happened when she reached for the handle. It was there, in her hand, but nothing passed from her body to it. She couldn't move it.

"Gramps! Come on, it's me, it's Donna! You can see me!"

She gazed around wildly then grabbed her handbag and rooted in it for her phone. Thankfully, she seemed to have no problem with either the bag or its contents. She dialled hastily and put the phone to her ear.

Nothing.

"Come on! Doctor!" She shook the phone and redialled frantically.

Nothing.

She backed away and leaned against the kitchen worktop, taking deep breaths. Something had happened. In all likelihood, something had happened to her. Something that had turned into some sort of _ghost_? Her mother and grandfather seemed fine, just the same as always. The house and street looked unchanged. She looked down at herself and patted her body, as if seeking reassurance that she was still solid.

The spaceship. All that messing with time and the Time Agency. Had she somehow been cancelled out?

But the Doctor hadn't seemed concerned that there was any possibility of it.

"I'll kill him," she muttered.

Half in a daze, she sank on to a chair beside her mother and watched their faces carefully for any sign of recognition. But they drank their tea in silence, turned towards the radio, completely unaware of her presence. What could she do? How long before the Doctor would decide it was time to return if he hadn't heard from her?

"I'll kill him slowly," she revised darkly. It was the nearest thing she had to a plan.


	2. Chapter 2

"Jack!" Martha's voice was hushed, as if she were afraid of being intercepted.

"There's a woman out there, in the front. Says she knows who we are and she wants to work with us! Ianto's keeping her talking. How the hell would she know about us?"

"It happens." Jack stood up and glanced at the screen where a blond woman stood chatting to Ianto as if completely comfortable in her surroundings. Did she look vaguely familiar? She was in her 30s maybe and looking good too. Now if the Feyad had looked more like her...

He coughed, distracting himself. "Sometimes people track us down. And sometimes they do become employees. No vacancies for this one though. I'd like to know how she found us and what she knows. Ianto knows the drill. Show her around and here..." He handed her a pill. "Slip this in her coffee or whatever before she goes."

"Is it safe?"

"Of course! I designed it!"

Martha looked as if this information wasn't actually answering her question.

"Go on, before she gets bored and leaves. We need to know how people find us." He sighed, rubbing his aching forehead.

"Jack, please tell me what's wrong."

"Nothing! Apart from you asking me every five minutes if I'm ok!" He turned away from her, a crazy desire hitting him to be _away_ from there, as far away from the hub as he could get, in fact, maybe as far away from this whole planet as he could. It was all too much. Everything here seemed to be overwhelming him suddenly, pulling him down, pressing him into the darkness he felt growing around him more and more by the day. If only...

"Jack? Jack!" Martha's voice sounded very far away.

"Yeah. Ok." He wondered vaguely why it felt difficult to speak.

"Lie still for a minute."

"What?" He glanced around, realising that he was on the floor.

"What happened?"

"You collapsed. I knew something wasn't right with you. Hang on, I'll get my kit."

He closed his eyes again as the sound of her footsteps became fainter. Collapsed. That was kind of interesting. He wasn't a collapsing sort of person.

"Ok," Martha's voice was nearer again. "Jack...are you still with me? I'm going to check your heart rate and blood pressure, ok?"

"Don't worry about it." Jack sat up and got gingerly to his feet.

"No...really. It's best to know what's wrong. You don't want it to happen again."

"Really," Jack said firmly, "I'm fine now. Tired, that's all. Go on, see what the story is with our visitor and send her on her way."

"Well, take it easy then," Martha said, looking at him doubtfully. "Look, I really think you should let me take a look at you."

"Oh you'd like that, wouldn't you?" He winked at her. "Go on, I'm fine. Honestly. I'll call you if I need you."

She drifted off, looking back at him once as if she was afraid he'd disappear completely.

Jack walked around the screens, not really knowing what he was looking for. One showed him the Feyad, still sitting motionless in her cell, staring into his eyes as if she could see him through the camera. Maybe she could. He really didn't know that much about them. The next screen was blanked out apart from the screen saver floating up and down.

**This computer is the property of TORCHWOOD**

He stared at it, amused. Martha's influence. She was clearly taking her new position seriously. She was way off with the logo though. And really, who was going to sneak a look at a Torchwood computer in the Torchwood Hub without them knowing? Especially with Tosh's security systems.

Tosh.

Owen.

He sighed and glanced at the screen to see what was happening with their visitor.

"Oh God," he breathed, and started to run.

*********************************************************************

His face was flushed with excitement and it was completely contagious. Jenny curled her hand around the control nearest to her and felt herself smile. The last few days were something she hardly knew what to feel about. Her instinct was, as always, to analyse and relive but at the moment, the recent memories felt like precious jewels that needed to be stored away and sensed, rather than examined.

_This_ was space travel.

_Time_ travel.

Humans with human lives. She hadn't been sure how being among them would feel like and hadn't wanted to admit that to her father.

Her _father_. The word felt too fragile to be used carelessly.

Earth had seemed like a dream for so long. Somewhere that she might travel to, to remind herself of him. And then it had become treacherous. A lonely vastness ruled by monsters who would tear her apart and use every piece for their own ends. It had been hard at times, during that lost period, to align those feelings with the knowledge that _he_ loved these people.

He was talking into the console.

"Jack! We're here! In Torchwood! Couldn't knock so we thought we'd give fair warning of our arrival in about...ten seconds! You won't believe where we've been in the last...what...48 hours?" He turned to grin manically at her as he spoke into the console.

She felt the TARDIS settle into position and felt the ship's difficulty as she had done the day they'd landed in Chiswick. Funny, she had been ok while they had done their tour. She watched him close his eyes briefly, concentrating on his ship, attempting to feel where the problem was.

_Fear?_

Startled, she jumped up and they stared at each other, as if expecting to find something changed.

"Is everything ok?" Jenny asked.

"You felt it too?"

She nodded.

"It's like she doesn't want to land."

He nodded soberly. Despite the sudden worry, Jenny felt a brief exhilaration at the fact of her knowledge of his ship. She _felt_ it, just as he did. She loved it.

"Maybe she needs another rest," she said.

"It's more than that," the Doctor told her. "Mind you, we've never landed in the Torchwood hub before. Maybe she's picking up on...well, it's Torchwood. There's things in this hub that shouldn't be anywhere near Earth at this particular time." He walked over to the door and gestured to her.

"Come on! I'd apologise in advance for anything Jack might say but really, he's Jack. Sooner you get used to him, the better!"

He opened the door...

...and stopped dead.

Jenny looked all around her. For a second, the room seemed to spin around her and she caught her breath sharply. Something reminded her deeply and painfully of the examination rooms on the Viran ship. She lowered her head so that he wouldn't see her. Maybe it was the colours, that bright, unyielding white.

"So this is Torchwood?" Her voice sounded fine.

He didn't reply.

****************************************

"So this is Torchwood?" Jenny's voice sounded shaky.

"It's not right," he muttered after a moment, blinking.

"What?"

"It's different. It's not supposed to look like this." He couldn't articulate why the sight of the hub seemed...almost offensive to him. He had been there, that night after leaving Rose and Donna, that terrible night. He couldn't remember much of it, to be honest. It couldn't have looked like _this_, he was almost sure of it. Through the TARDIS screen, it had always looked dark and comfortable with all of its complexities hidden behind a dark, cosy little lair of wonders. This was...

Bright.

Modern. Very modern.

"It's like how it was," he said, in wonder.

"I don't understand."

"In London." He clenched his fists.

Jenny walked beside him and stopped at each desk to look at the computer screens.

"I thought there were only five people working here," she said.

"There are."

"But these are set up for individual employees. Look, passwords and finger print security. There's loads of them."

Together they stared around the office.

"There's someone in there," the Doctor said, indicating a small room to the left and moving toward it. He noted how Jenny, who had surely proved herself to have seemingly limitless courage, changed her stance very subtly to stand slightly behind him when there were introductions or small talk to be made. Maybe one day, he would ask her, if her experience on the Viran ship had given her a wariness of humans and how she might be viewed by them. He didn't like to think of it but he would ask.

Gwen Cooper came into view, followed by Martha and a tall, blond woman he had never seen before. Gwen and Martha stood in front of the stranger, looking as if they were waiting for orders. Who was she? Jack had told him that following the recruitment of Martha and Mickey, the team was once again complete. Mind you, she looked like the sort of person Jack might easily make an exception for.

"Martha!" He walked toward her, his arms out-stretched, suddenly delighted to see a really familiar face.

"It turned out to be a hoax," Gwen was saying to the blond woman and at these words, Martha turned around to her, smiling.

"It was a good one, you have to admit."

"That's as may be," the blond woman replied, "but it's also a waste of resources. You've got to know, before you even leave the base, what you're going into and if it's going to be worth your while."

"Hello!" the Doctor called, waving an arm to them.

"Sometimes these people need help," Martha said quietly.

"That's not your problem," the stranger said.

"Are we invisible?" Jenny asked, walking all around them. She stood still and took a deep breath.

"Hello! Torchwood! We're intruders! We're invading your hub!"

"Best looking intruders I've seen in a while," a voice said smoothly behind them.

The Doctor turned around quickly.

"Jack!" He opened his mouth to say something else, stopped and frowned.

"I have no idea what question to ask first."

"Understandable," Jack said. "Ask away! It's not like we're going to be overheard anytime soon."

****************************

"_You_ can see us," Jenny said.

"And you can see me. Lucky you!" Jack winked at her, caught sight of the look on the Doctor's face and lowered his head quickly.

"What's going on?" the Doctor asked.

"Haven't you noticed anything outside? A certain atmosphere?"

"We came straight here. From the 20s!" He turned to smile at Jenny. "And she enjoyed it every bit as much as Donna. I tell you, that was a great decade! Have you been lately?"

"Time travel's been difficult up until recently."

"Well, if you're need of a break, let me know," the Doctor said and Jack could swear he gave him a slightly pointed look. Maybe he was just paranoid.

"What are you doing here anyway?" he asked. "Donna's not in trouble?"

"If she is, it's only with her mother," the Doctor said.

"She's in Chiswick?"

"What'd you think? We abandoned her in the midst of...?"

"Wouldn't be the first time."

There was a sudden silence. Jack turned away. He had no idea why he'd said that.

"So this is Torchwood?" Jenny spoke quickly as if sensing a need for a subject change.

Jack shrugged, suddenly almost too tired to go into it. Terrifying as the last two days had been, he had to admit, the peace and quiet had had its moments. The Doctor was staring intently at him.

"What's happened?" he asked quietly. He looked at the blond woman, now sitting at a desk and talking into a device that looked like a small intercom. "Who is she?"

"Moira Dawes. She runs Torchwood."

"_What_?"

"You heard. She's in charge. As far as they're concerned," He nodded over to Martha and Gwen, "Moira's always been in charge. She recruited them."

The Doctor stared silently into the other room.

"Memory manipulation?"

Jack shrugged.

"Wouldn't be the first time it's happened. But this is...on a slightly grander scale. And there's nothing I can do. They can't see or hear me. I can't get through to them. I can't leave because I don't know what she wants with them yet."

"Does she know you're here?"

Jack shook his head.

"Far as they're concerned, I'm not. See that?" He pointed to a long, yellow lever attached to the centre of the hub. "When she pulls that down, we'll become visible again."

"What do you mean?"

"Aliens. That machine filters out anything and anyone that doesn't originate from Earth. We have no substance. We can't influence anything or manipulate anything and we can't be seen. She can reverse it but she hasn't so far. What happens when she does, I'll be interested to see."

"You're sure she can't see you?"

Jack nodded, wishing the Doctor wouldn't keep looking so intently at him.

"Nope. I've stayed out of sight mostly, to be sure. Wanted to see what they're up to."

"_They?"_

"Moira, Keira Clark and John Sanders. That's her team. The others mustn't have survived."

"Survived? Survived what?"

"Whatever they've been through to learn how to do this. Believe me, they've spent the last few years doing more than interior design." He waved an arm airily about him. The white was _really_ getting to him.

"Do you _know_ them?"

"I know of them," Jack said, "Read their names, seen some of their logs." He gave a short, bitter laugh. "I once told Gwen we'd find them someday."

"Find them?"

Jack tried to ignore the brief pleasure he was experiencing from being the one having to explain things to the Doctor. He nodded back into the room.

"Doctor, Jenny, I'd like to introduce you to Torchwood 4."


	3. Chapter 3

Perhaps if you were a television personality, Donna thought, this feeling of watching your life might one day seem normal. Ok, so she couldn't see herself. But this...sitting in her home with her family...unheard, unseen, a not-so-detached observer. She was in effect watching her life. Her family. Her home. Her memories. Once upon a time, the thought might have intrigued her. What did they talk about in her absence? What did they say about her? But to be honest, anytime her name was mentioned, she wanted to cover her ears. Not that it was bad. Not that it was particularly good (her lack of contact was not going down well, especially with her mother). But it was like reading someone's diary. After the first few words, you realised that the words would never sit easily with you, no matter how you digested them.

"She didn't ring?" her mother asked, sitting down in front of the television.

Gramps shook his head slowly, his face thoughtful. In a minute, Donna knew he'd get up and check the weather. If it was a clear night, he'd head up the hill to check the skies, and watch the stars, watching probably for a familiar blue box to appear. The thought made her feel horribly lonely. How weird to feel homesick while sitting at home.

Her mother said nothing. In a suddenly uneasy atmosphere, she turned up the television and they turned their attention to it. On the evening news, a tall woman was speaking to a commentator in a large white office. Donna sighed loudly and curled up on the floor in front an armchair she couldn't really feel.

"We've worked in the shadows for so long," the woman was saying earnestly, "and given the events of recent months, we feel that that's no longer what is safe and what is best for humanity. People need to know who they can come to if they have concerns."

The doorbell rang and her mother got up to answer it.

"Gramps!" Donna said loudly for the hundredth time. He didn't move.

"What would you say to people who think that you work is a waste of valuable resources?" the commentator was asking.

"Come on, Bill!" The woman laughed softly. "Can there really be that many sceptics left? You've faced _invasions._ Last October, the entire planet was moved to a whole new part of the universe! You've been in serious danger time and time again from aliens very few of us know anything about. These invasions happen because no one knows enough to report anything strange."

"Strange in what sense?"

"People acting in an odd manner. Changes in weather patterns. Changes in just about anything really. It may sound extraordinary but there are aliens on this planet as we speak! They are very good at mimicking us but sooner or later they give themselves away. If we can give people a means to express their suspicions by working more publicly then all of us at Torchwood feel that we have responsibility to..."

"Torchwood!" Donna sat up.

"Torchwood!" Wilf sat forward, staring at the screen in wonder.

"This is your headquarters," the commentator was saying now. "Maybe you'd like to show us a little more of how and where you work, Moira."

"Absolutely!" Moira turned and faced the white room. She waved a hand airily around her.

"Welcome to the Torchwood Hub!"

"That's not Torchwood!" Donna leaned forward, until her face was almost touching the television screen. She'd never been inside Torchwood but she'd seen enough to be able to picture it as a dark, comfortable sort of place. Machines with awkward dials and levers pulsing away in the midst of utter chaos. Not unlike the TARDIS on a busy day...

_The TARDIS_

She sat back and looked around helplessly.

"Something's wrong," she told her grandfather sadly. "Something's really, really wrong."

If she sat at a certain angle in front of the television screen, it was almost as if he was directing all his attention at her.

Her mother returned, holding a book.

"Look at this!" Gramps said to her. His voice was louder than usual with excitement.

"What?" Her mother had the tone of voice she usually reserved for Donna when deciding whether or not to humour her.

"Torchwood! That lot that work with the Doctor! Donna could be there. Look, there's plenty of people!"

"Plenty of people?" Donna turned back to the screen, shifting herself to one side before she realised that there was no chance of her blocking anyone's view. _If only..._

"There's Martha!" She felt almost like crying at the sight of her.

"Keira and John here are my second-in-commands," Moira was saying, "and they'll be the people you'll have a direct line to when our Strategic Plans come into operation."

"Where's _Jack_?" Donna squinted, trying to see every angle of the room. "Why does she say _she's_ in change?"

"I don't see Donna," Wilf said, sounding disappointed.

"Don't I know it," Donna muttered.

She stared at the screen as Moira turned in different directions, showing off every angle of the white room to the viewer. In the midst of the activity, Martha bent over papers at a desk, paying little attention to anyone. Beside her, a man who Donna recognised as Ianto Jones sat silently. He at least looked uncomfortable, she noticed. From time to time, he glanced around him, as of looking for something he had misplaced. Neither of them seemed in the least bit disconcerted at the sight of the television cameras.

"This is what's going to make our work much easier," Moira was saying, as the camera rolled in on a grey machine with a yellow lever. "This is a sort of detector and it makes beings from other worlds much easier to spot. I can give you a run down on how it works but we might have to get very technical!" She smiled at the camera as if she was flirting with it.

"Your research must cost a huge amount of money," the commentator said. He seemed, Donna thought, quite hooked on the money angle which was odd given the amount of questions the subject of Torchwood should bring up. Maybe he just didn't know where to start.

"Oh not really. At least, it doesn't have to," Moira said. "But in order to justify the work and resources we put in, help from the public is of the utmost importance. Quite frankly, it astonishes me that former Torchwood employees have never realised this."

"You'll realise a lot once I get near you," Donna muttered.

Moira straightened up again and turned back towards the centre of the room.

"Jack!" Donna cried and then, as tears filled her eyes, "_Doctor_!"

Yes, there they were. They stood to the left of the table where Martha and Ianto sat, both looking in the direction of the two. The Doctor was whispering something to Jack and why he was whispering was a bit of a mystery. It was obvious that they couldn't be seen. No one present was paying them the slightest bit of attention. She clenched her fists, staring, as if the intensity of her gaze might attract their attention.

Why was Jack looking so pale and worn out? She raised a hand and pretended to press it against their faces. But the camera was moving away again.

As it moved on, she caught sight of two people she didn't know, bent over a machine and talking quietly to each other. Jenny stood between them, making it look as if it was her they were sharing information with.

Donna sat back, almost weak with relief. Whatever was going on, she had found the Doctor at least. Now it was just a case of getting herself to Cardiff and finding out what the hell had happened since she walked out of the TARDIS.

Get herself to Cardiff.

Invisible.

Without any kind of physical substance.

Oh.

"Who was at the door?" Wilf asked.

"Alice," her mother said, "returning a book Donna lent her. Don't know why she bothered. It's not like Donna'll need it anytime soon."

"Ah well," Wilf moved to the window and glanced outside. "Think I'll stretch my legs for a bit."

Her mother inclined her head slightly and didn't reply.

Donna followed her grandfather out the door. Was it worth tracking Alice down? Her friend had claimed for years to be able to see ghosts. Did _she_ qualify as a ghost? Anything was better than nothing, she decided. Alternatively, she could follow her grandfather up the hill, sit beside him and pretend that they were huddled together, watching the stars.

But he'd be watching _for_ her, not with her.

They walked down the garden together. It was strange. Somehow, Donna knew that the evening chill was there, the chill that would usually send her shivering into her warmest coat. But it didn't affect her now. It was same with hunger. She felt hungry and thirsty but it wasn't a physical need, more like her mind telling her what she should feel.

The street was dark. For a moment she wondered if the street lights weren't working but they all were. Everything seemed dimmer somehow, as if clouded by fog.

She pulled out her phone again as she had been every so often. It was comforting to be able to feel and use something, even if it wasn't actually working. She dialled and held it to her ear.

"Come on Doctor!"

Silence.

The phone felt warm, probably from being in her pocket.

But her body shouldn't be giving out warmth, should it?

Interested now, she closed her hand around it and reached with the other for the nearest wall. Her hand pressed on rough concrete.

"Gramps!" she called, feeling her voice crack with high-pitched wonder.

He turned around, fixed his eyes on her face.

"Donna!" He took a step towards her, "Donna love!" His eyes widened.

"Are you alright, love?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. I'm fine now." She threw her arms around him, pressing her face to his shoulder as she tried to compose herself.

"Gramps, I've..." She stopped, wanting desperately to tell him but not wanting to worry him.

"Come on, love. You're cold. Let's get inside." He turned her gently towards the house.

"Where's the Doctor?"

"He'll be back," Donna said, "he's just...ow!" The phone in her hand was burning her. She dropped it and stepped away from it.

"It's glowing. Do you see that?" She wrapped her hand in her sleeve and bent down cautiously to it.

"Here, let me." Wilf crouched beside her as a harsh voice spoke above them.

"Move back from her, sir."

"What the hell?" Donna stood up. A man and woman stood over them, pointing something in Donna's direction. It wasn't exactly like a gun but enough like one...

She recognised the man.

"Mickey, it's me, Donna! We've met, remember? In the Crucible? We fought the Daleks together!"

His face remained impassive as he stared at Wilf.

"Sir? Move away from her now. Unless you want us to arrest you too."


	4. Chapter 4

"Television cameras!!!! _Television_ cameras! What next..._Hello_ magazine spread?" Jack was shouting, though the Doctor had warned them to stay quiet. There was no knowing what that machine could pick up on, even when switched off. But he didn't really care.

"That's it." He took a deep breath. "I give up. I officially give up on this planet. It's beyond hope."

"To be fair," The Doctor was watching the monitors where Moira was in the vaults, staring thoughtfully at the Feyad. "They're not exactly from this planet, are they? I mean, obviously they were once upon a time but not now. They have equipment that's...it's beyond forbidden. It just shouldn't be here."

"_We_ have forbidden equipment," Jack said, slightly insulted at the insinuation that _his_ Torchwood's equipment was less forbidden than _theirs_.

The Doctor gave him a long look.

"Ianto's not convinced," he said quietly.

"What?"

"I've been watching him. He knows there's something wrong."

"Ianto's not easily taken in," Jack said proudly.

"We'll have to watch out for him. If he becomes obviously suspicious, that puts him in danger."

"Always happy to keep an eye on Ianto."

"Yeah." The Doctor coughed slightly. "Where's Jenny?"

"Spying on the enemy like a good little soldier."

"She's not a soldier, Jack."

"Figure of speech." Jack looked seriously at the Doctor. "Were you bringing her here to have her checked out?"

"What?"

"Her genetics. We could check her genetic code...see exactly how related to Timelord genes they are."

"No." The Doctor looked around and lowered his tone. "I _did_ wonder, Jack, especially when that gunshot didn't kill her." He sounded like he was admitting to a crime. "I didn't want to suggest that we check. What the Time Agency did to her...I didn't want to seem to be doing the same. And now, I don't really care what she is. She is who she is...to me."

"That's good," Jack said quietly. He looked away from the Doctor and back to the screens.

"Jack?"

"Hmmm?"

"You didn't kill the Time Agents. They killed themselves."

"I know," Jack said quickly. Too quickly. He was usually such a good liar.

"What do you know about that machine?" he asked.

The Doctor hesitated, as if aware that the question was nothing more than a distraction technique. Jack stared him down.

"It's called an atmosphere perception detector. Does what it says on the tin basically. Anyone out of place, not from the world it's used in, carries a different air around them. Sort of like vortex stuff, when you've been travelling in space." For a second, his face grew thoughtful.

"And it tracks that? The atmosphere from the person?"

"Yeah, sort of. When it's switched off, it sends huge volumes of the atmosphere of the world around it into that world. More than it's used to. That causes changes in the weather, by the way...makes the air thicker. And darker. And makes anyone alien invisible. They can breathe but that's about it. Then, it gets switched on. The effects are reversed and the alien can be seen. But they touch something around them, sit on something, use equipment, talk, whatever and their atmosphere gets highlighted a hundredfold and they can be tracked down. She's hooked it up to your technology so everyone they _collect_ can be identifed."

"So we'll be visible when she turns it on? And the others? Will they remember us?"

"Probably not," the Doctor said, "depends on how strong an influence she has on their memories. I'd love to know where she's been...or they've been, I should say, to learn all this."

Jack watched as the Doctor's face clouded over suddenly.

"Donna," he said quietly.

"What?"

"Donna...her genetics. Remember? She could be perceived as alien!" He clapped a hand to his forehead.

"I forgot that. If she's been invisible all this time, she'll...she'll think she's died or something. She'll be terrified! Come on!" He turned towards the TARDIS, still blinking away in the centre of the room.

"I can't," Jack said. The Doctor turned around to face him.

"I can't leave," he repeated, "it's like..." He indicated Ianto. "It's like they're hostages or something. Ok, I can't do much for them but I can't leave them either. You go to Donna. I'll wait here."

The Doctor looked at him until the silence started to become uncomfortable.

"I can't leave you, Jack," he said finally.

"What?"

"Looked in a mirror lately?" He spoke lightly but there was undercurrent to the words. Anger? Regret? Jack said nothing.

"No? That's not like you. Well, find one. Look into it and then you'll know exactly why I'm not letting you out of my sight."

"Getting a bit over-dramatic, aren't we?"

"Call it what you like." The Doctor shrugged and turned back toward the TARDIS. For a second, a split second that he would never admit to, Jack felt a sudden shot of fury run through him.

"I'll wait for you," he said stubbornly.

"Jack, I'll tie you up and drag you kicking and screaming if I..."

"Oh you'd like that, wouldn't you?"

"What in the name of..." They both spun around as a voice spoke behind them. Moira was standing as if she'd been halted in her tracks, staring at them in shock.

"Keira!" she called sharply.

As if in slow motion, Keira and John moved toward them, Jenny between them, looking defiant. All three of them had guns. Big guns. Then Martha was standing too, looking at him as if she'd never set eyes on him before. Now _that _hurt. He couldn't bear to look toward Ianto.

"Ah! You turned it on! Visible at last!" The Doctor stepped forward, extending a hand politely.

"Don't come any closer or we'll shoot!"

"I'm the Doctor," he continued as if she hadn't spoken. "_This_ is Captain Jack Harkness, the man whose job you appear to have stolen."

"To be fair, you could have just sent in a CV," Jack added.

"I _knew_ it!" Moira said. She turned to the others.

"I said it, didn't I? I knew there were aliens here, in this building! I could sense it."

"Well, it _is_ Torchwood. It's kind of the point," Jack said.

"You've been here all along, as if..." She trailed off.

"Tying each other up by the sounds of it," Ianto said.

Jack looked at him quickly. Ianto's face was blank, his voice as dry as always.

"Take them to the vaults," Moira said.

As John and Keira moved toward them, the Doctor held up a hand.

"Hold on! Moira...can I call you Moira? Didn't catch your surname! Seems to me that Jack runs this ship and it's really..."

"He's alien! As it is, that makes him, and you, our prisoners."

"If it's alien, it's ours," the Doctor said in a whisper. Jack glanced at him. He looked as if he was fighting some sort of inward battle.

"Don't worry," Moira said smoothly, "you won't be on your own down there. There'll be plenty of _company_ before long." She turned toward the machine and pressed her hand on the lever.

"Careful," Keira said quietly, "we don't know how much power is too much."

"It's not important," Moira replied crisply, "a few less prisoners is a few less prisoners."

The air was changing. Jack inhaled sharply, feeling as if the walls themselves were closing in on them. Moira, Keira and John turned around as something became very visible to their left.

The TARDIS.

"You can break through perception filters," the Doctor remarked casually, "seems you've thought of everything. This is the TARDIS."

But none of them replied. Moira was staring at a screen in front of her. She looked up at the TARDIS as if it was a monster.

"Never seen a police box before?" he asked.

"Scan it," she said sharply.

"You won't break in," the Doctor said, "she won't give you a reading."

Moira turned back to him and Jack noticed that her face looked almost pinched.

"I know," she said.

"What?"

"You're a Timelord."

"_What_? Where have you heard that name?"

But she didn't seem to be listening. She turned back to the others, raising her arms in a gesture that suggested complete hopelessness, as if something was completely beyond her.

"It's alright," John muttered to her. "Moira! Get a grip!" They looked accusingly at the Doctor who looked almost as shocked as they did.

"Ok, ok!" Jack stepped forward and used what he hoped was his most commanding voice. "Let's all calm down. Seems we all have information to share with each other. Let's drop the weapons and act civilised for at least ten minutes, ok? Plenty of time for taking prisoners...or not, as the case may be."

Keira lowered her gun uncertainly.

Weird. He was the one giving the no-weapons lecture. But the Doctor seemed to have lost the power of speech.

"Doctor!"

"_Doctor_!" Now Moira stepped up to them. "You call yourselves_ Doctors_! You're nothing but murderers!"

The Doctor met her furious gaze.

"I need to know where you've heard of Timelords," he said quietly.

"Heard about!" She looked unhinged. For seconds, they stared at each other.

"They're not Timelords, only me," the Doctor said finally, gesturing to Jack and Jenny, "you can scan us. You'll see."

"And he's not a murderer." Jenny's voice was strangely flat. "That's the _last_ thing he is. Listen to Jack. Drop your weapons and we'll talk. No one will get hurt." Was she trying not to add to the emotion in the room? Jack decided to follow her example.

"Where have you been to know about Timelords?" He spoke slowly and clearly, as if Moira was hard of hearing, hoping to engage her.

John put his gun on the ground, reached over and gently took Moira's.

She looked around and blinked, as if coming back from somewhere terrible. That look made Jack feel almost sympathetic towards her.

"We've been..." She seemed to struggle to speak. "We've seen them in action."

"You can't have," Jack told her, still attempting to keep his voice as calm as possible. "You've got the wrong..."

She cut him off with a strangled cry.

"We've seen what you've done. We've seen your war! _It killed our friends!"_

"Where?" the Doctor asked again, sounding slightly choked.

"The Glimstone Mountains," she whispered. Keira put a hand on her shoulder.

The Doctor turned away slightly, looking sick.

"_Doctor_," Jack reached for his arm. "It's not possible. She's confused."

"Listen," the Doctor said urgently, holding a hand towards her, "Moira, _listen_..."

"No!" Suddenly, the shadows seemed to rush toward them until he realised that it was Jenny, arms outstretched. In a second that seemed like minutes, he looked down and understood.

The pistol in Moira's hand. Aimed at the Doctor's heart.

"Stop!"

"_Jack!"_

From far off, he was aware of moving, of losing balance, of grasping empty air.

_Why did it always take so long to hit the ground?_

A single scream and the Doctor's hands on his shoulders.

And nothing more.


	5. Chapter 5

The teleport was quick and brutal, like being shoved through a narrow doorway. Donna grabbed a wall beside her, trying to regain her balance and then realised that somewhere between being seized and teleported, they had put handcuffs on her. Mickey was watching her through narrowed eyes.

"There was no need to bring my granddad into this!" she snarled.

"Your _granddad_? You know you're getting him into more trouble by making him cover for you."

"We wouldn't have brought him if either of you had told us the truth," Gwen added.

"Wouldn't have left you anyway," Wilf said. His voice sounded strained and breathless. Donna reached clumsily for his hand, as if her comfort could somehow shield them from anything they were about to see or experience.

"The Doctor's here," she whispered to him, "it'll be ok."

"No whispering!" Gwen said. She led them down a dark hallway and into the large white office they had watched on television. It was quiet now, with heads bent over papers and computers. Donna opened her mouth to call out to Martha and shut it again quickly.

A small, wiry looking woman came to meet them. She cocked her head curiously at the sight of Wilf.

"Aliens posing as pensioners! That's a new one!"

"No, he's alright," Mickey told her, "but he was shielding_ her_." He indicated Donna.

"He's shielding nobody. He's my grandfather!" Donna muttered.

"Bit of an impossibility, that," Mickey said, "given your genetics!"

"Which are?" the woman asked.

"Messed up!" Gwen said.

"Oi!" Donna rounded on her but the other woman stepped quickly between them.

"Don't make this worse on yourself," she said. She turned back to Gwen.

"Take them to the vaults. I'll do the scan later."

"I'll take them," a voice said from behind.

"Thanks Ianto," Gwen said quietly and she and Mickey turned to follow the woman towards the series of desks.

Ianto Jones. Donna remembered him too. She tried to look around discreetly. The Doctor and Jack had stood in this office only a short time ago. Surely they should still be here. Moira, the woman who had spoken on the television sat in a far corner. A man at her side spoke quietly to her, his hand on her shoulder. She looked upset. In fact, the whole atmosphere was tense and dark.

"Well, I did always want to get a look at Torchwood," Wilf muttered beside her. Donna turned to smile at him, as much of a smile as she could muster.

"Unless Moira starts guided tours, this might be your only opportunity" Ianto said, "best make the most of it."

Donna glanced at him. His face was impassive and he was staring ahead as they walked but there was something, something different about him.

"Do you remember me?" she asked quietly.

He didn't respond. She sighed loudly.

"It's not really a question of remembering you though, is it?" Ianto said suddenly. His voice was barely audible.

"What?"

"Well, what you should be asking me is, _have I forgotten you_?"

She looked upwards. He was looking at her with the hint of a smile.

"You...you know who I am?"

"Look, what's this about?" Wilf began but Ianto held up a hand to silence him.

"Tell Jack," he said, his voice and urgent, "she's mentioned the _red button_."

"What? What's that?" Donna asked frantically. But Ianto turned away and as he did, he glanced at the wall where a camera over their heads was coming into view. Understanding that there were probably only certain spots where they could talk unobserved, she fell silent too.

As they entered the next hallway, Donna could see rows and rows of glass. Behind each piece of glass was a person...or sometimes not quite a person. Having begun to think of herself as somewhat of an expert of aliens from her travels, she realised that, in actual fact, she had seen nothing yet. Some of the prisoners looked perfectly human. Most of them seemed to be locked up together and others...

"We were promised peace in the last treaty!" A man was shouting at a fellow prisoner. The two looked perfectly ordinary...unless you noticed the sparks. Sparks coming from their fingertips. Donna took a step backwards, almost bumping into Ianto.

"This isn't _our_ doing!" the other man said tightly.

Ianto gave her a gentle push forward and they crept apprehensively to the next cell. A creature rose up and roared at them. Another took a leap towards it and the two snarled at each other.

"Weevils," Ianto said quickly, "don't worry, they can't get out."

"These are...aliens." It wasn't a question. Wilf's voice sounded shaky.

"It's ok, Gramps," Donna said, hardly aware of what she was saying, "Don't worry. The Doctor'll sort this out and we'll be home before you know it."

"'Course he will," Wilf said faintly.

"Here you are then," Ianto said, stopping at the final vault.

"Doctor!" Whether it was safe to admit they knew each other or not, Donna was beyond caring. She pushed past Ianto and flung herself at the Doctor.

"Donna!" The Doctor pushed her back to arm's length. "Are you ok? How did you get here?"

"Donna!" Jenny was separated from them by a pane of glass. In her cell, three people stared glumly into space. Jenny came to stand at the glass, her gaze falling on the cuffs around Donna's wrists. She and the Doctor glared at Ianto and the glares were somehow so identical that, despite the circumstances it made Donna want to laugh.

"Is this really necessary?"

Ianto shrugged, his face blank, as he locked the door. Donna saw his glance slide across the room to where Jack sat in a corner, leaning against the wall. Abruptly he turned and walked away.

"Wilf!" The Doctor stared past Donna. "What are you doing here?"

"They arrested him too, just for being with me," Donna said. "Jack? Are you ok?"

Jack hadn't moved to get up.

"Casualty of war," he said, "gunshot. I'm fine. Just taking a breather."

"Gunshot?" Wilf moved toward him, "taking a breather won't be enough. Are you bleeding? Let me have a look." When Jack didn't move, he said gently, "I've seen gunshot wounds before."

"It's ok, Gramps," Donna said and stopped, realising she had no idea how to explain.

"I get shot a lot," Jack said finally, "really. I'm ok."

He didn't look ok. Donna glanced at Jenny who held up her hands in a slightly helpless gesture.

"So what is this?" Donna asked. "How come we're invisible one minute and getting arrested the next and watching _Torchwood_ on _television_?"

"Long story," the Doctor replied, "but...in a nutshell, we have a new Torchwood team. They've made Jack's team believe they've worked for them all along; they have a machine that makes aliens invisible and singles them out for capture...oh, and it's deadly harmful to the atmosphere in the long term! _And_, they seem to be rounding up everyone they even _suspect _of being alien and squeezing them in here which really isn't a good idea....and that's about it so far!"

"Wow." Donna looked down at Jack, "kind of makes you lot look _boring_!"

"You forgot to mention that they're scared of Timelords," Jenny said.

"Yes, that too," the Doctor said quietly.

"_What?"_

"Tell you later," the Doctor said, in what Donna recognised was his really-don't-want-to-discuss-this tone. She'd wrangle it out of him in due course.

"Ianto's ok," she said, suddenly remembering. "He knows who we are."

"Did he say anything?" Jack asked.

"He said she's mentioned a red button."

Jack staggered to his feet.

"The red button? Are you sure? Were those his exact words?"

"Yeah. Why?"

Jack looked at the Doctor.

"I know what she's doing. I don't understand why...but..."

"Funny," the Doctor said, his voice light, "that's just what I was going to say about you."

For seconds, they stared at each other. Donna looked from one to the other and cleared her throat loudly. The Doctor sighed.

"Ok," he said evenly, "what's she doing?"

"The red button," Jack said, "it's a device hidden in a Torchwood base and only one person at a time can know about it...because of what it does."

The Doctor nodded suddenly.

"Ah. It's another Osterhagen key, is it?"

"It's hooked to an explosive, yes. It's for the Torchwood hub if we're ever invaded, or if we contain something that poses an unacceptable threat to earth. The person who knows about it alerts UNIT and gets the other employees out, if they can, and they detonate it. Unit clears the surrounding area, again, as much as they can."

"You humans!" The Doctor gave a short laugh. "You're the most dangerous of any species I can think of sometimes. Anything goes wrong, blow it up! Wipe it out of existence and pretend it never happened! Your self-destructive tendencies are unique, do you know that?"

"You're one to talk," Jack began, "the amount of times..."

"An unacceptable threat," the Doctor said slowly, cutting him off. "That's what we are, to her." He stared beyond them, looking thoughtful.

"And that's what we soon really will be," Jack said, "look."

They watched as Keira and John led three more people into a nearby cell.

"Some of them mightn't even be alien," Donna said, "my granddad isn't."

"And those who are, are being mixed in with other species and contained together in small, cramped situations," the Doctor said, "even the most peaceful can crack in certain situations."

There were sounds of shouts from Jenny's cellmates. The language was indecipherable but something in the Doctor's face told Donna that he understood what was being said, and didn't much like the sound of it. Jenny watched them apprehensively.

"Who knew there were this many aliens on earth?" Donna said.

"You'd be surprised," the Doctor said, "plenty of visitors here just get on with it, study, live, whatever. You lot only notice the ones who cause trouble. Some are escaping, some are passing through. Don't bother anyone. And the thing is, they're all important. Someday their presence or their work in so many different ways, gives humanity a much greater chance of survival in the wider universe than they would have without them."

"There were two men...well, they looked like men, fighting when we passed. One was blaming the other for...being here. They had sparks coming from their fingertips."

"Raplings," the Doctor said. "If they really get going, glass won't hold them."

"Why's Donna mixed up in this?" Wilf asked suddenly.

The Doctor and Jack both turned, as if they had forgotten he was there. Donna answered for them.

"Timelord genes...isn't it? I still have Timelord genes."

"You have the remnants of them," the Doctor said gently. "It's why the Professor was so interested in you on the Viran ship."

"Can you fix it?" Wilf asked.

"Yes, of course," the Doctor said, "and we will as soon as we fix this."

Donna turned away from them, suddenly feeling completely overwhelmed for reasons she couldn't even begin to articulate.

"Stop it!" Jenny shouted suddenly, startling them all.

Donna spun around and watched in horror as Jenny's cellmates almost seemed to melt in front of them. Their clothes dissolved and their skin began to stretch.

"They're growing," Wilf whispered.

"What are they?" Donna asked.

"Zinans...from the planet Zeneria." The Doctor's face looked frozen. "Didn't know they could disguise themselves so well. Normally you spot them a mile off...by their teeth. We've got to get Jenny out of there!"

The two creatures were now well over 6 foot tall. Their skin had turned to a dark grey...shiny skin, a little like oilcloth. Their eyes were small and bright...small perhaps only in comparison to the teeth. The bared teeth.

"Jenny! It's ok...keep calm. We'll get you out of there!" The Doctor and Wilf banged on the glass.

"Moira!" the Doctor shouted. "Get down here! This isn't right! You can't leave people down here to get slaughtered!"

"To her, it's either that or the red button," Jack said. "We need a plan B, Doctor! Do they understand us?"

"I think everyone understands this!" Jenny shouted. She reached into her jacket and pulled out a small gun. She stepped back until she stood against the wall, pointing the gun and never breaking eye contact with the two creatures who stared steadily back. Her whole demeanor changed, Donna noticed, almost as much as her fellow prisoners. Her body was tensed and poised and her face was set and completely emotionless. She placed a finger against the trigger.

"Don't do anything rash, Jenny," Jack said slowly, "just keep them still and keep calm. Jenny?"

Calm! All around them were sounds of panic and rage. Donna edged forward, trying to keep herself in front of her grandfather.

Only the Doctor, staring at Jenny, said nothing.


	6. Chapter 6

Jenny took a deep breath and let it out slowly. All around her was noise and panic but she could feel rather than hear it. There was a strange thudding in her ear and the faces all around her seemed to merge into one.

It had worked. The three creatures in front of her were silent, staring, all four of them in a stand-off that none really understood. In the other vaults, the activity seemed to cease. She was the focus point now. Just as well. If she hadn't kept herself armed. If she had obeyed...

She couldn't look at the Doctor.

"Stay still," she repeated carefully, "or I really will shoot."

She would. That was the hard part. She knew she was capable of it, and ready to do it if necessary. What was necessary? Only Jack seemed to understand how she felt and how her thoughts were whirling around her head. He spoke to her, calling needless instructions and repeating her name each time.

Daring to sneak a quick look, she caught sight of Donna beside the older man who had come here with her. Donna had such trust in the Doctor! She watched him, whether consciously or not, waiting for a signal or maybe merely watching to get an inkling of his take on the situation. As if aware of her, Donna turned in Jenny's direction. Her face wasn't angry. In fact, her expression was more pitying than anything else. She was probably just scared. Jenny turned back to her targets. Each waited for the other to act.

"Everyone keep calm," Jack was saying, "we're going to get out of here and believe me, anyone who wants to go their separate ways will be welcome to do so!"

"Even...those?" Donna whispered, pointing at the Weevils.

Jack watched them for a moment. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," he said, turning to the Doctor.

"So, what's the plan?"

"Plan? Why do you always assume_ I_ have the plans?"

"Oh ok, this is going to be one of those situations where you pretend to have no plan and then jump in at the very end. _Fine_ with me."

"It's a conspiracy!" one of the prisoners called out.

"This is all your doing!" someone else called.

As they all argued, Jenny tuned them out, even though she was aware of all of their eyes on her. It was funny how mere seconds could last so long.

..................................................................................

"We get Moira down here," the Doctor said quietly. "If we can undo the memory manipulation, we can get this sorted."

"How?" Donna asked. Her voice was slightly strained. Jack was glad he didn't have to be the one to address that question. Talking to Donna Noble in a confined space about erasing peoples' memories wasn't his idea of a safe way to pass the time.

"Hold on," he said, "how the hell do we do that? My team don't know me; there's no way they're going to take a Redcon pill from someone they've locked in the vaults!"

"No," the Doctor replied, "we take a short cut!" He held out the screwdriver. "I destroy the machine. Screwdrivers can do that, you know! Put them in the wrong socket! Turn them the wrong way! Plenty of room for error! The atmosphere gets changed back and everyone here gets a little, shall we say, disorientated! Events of the last few days will be blurry, to say the least! Plenty of time for you to get to your team and talk to them."

"How do you get to the machine?" Donna asked.

He waved the screwdriver airily at the glass in front of them.

"Not this way, anyway. They won't budge. What do you make these vaults out of, Jack?"

Jack opened his mouth but the Doctor waved him away.

"Not to worry! I'll take the particulars later! You just work on your team...memories, catchphrases, anything you can think of! Then you just have to decide what to do with your new colleagues!"

"I can think of a few things," Jenny said darkly. She was standing very near to her cellmates for now and for all they were so much taller than her, she seemed to tower over them in the dim light.

"Jenny," the Doctor said quietly.

She didn't move but Jack could see her eyes flicker in his direction.

"Jen-ny," one of the creatures intoned. The hiss in its voice made Donna jump beside him.

"Quiet!" Jenny said sharply.

"_Jen-ny..."_

In one movement, the creatures moved. One jumped with surprising agility. Jenny moved forward, turning as if to duck to the side but she wasn't quick enough. The two in front grabbed and pinned her. She struggled, lashing and kicking, though Jack noted her grip on the gun as she held it tight against her. The creature behind took her arms and held them firmly behind her back. Funny that they didn't go for the gun, he thought. Did they think it was part of her?

"Kill her!" someone called from another vault, "she could be one of them!"

"She'll get us all killed!"

The Doctor raised the screwdriver and aimed it at the ceiling. Slowly a crack started to appear. He rubbed his forehead in what Jack recognised was a gesture of desperation and kept on going until the crack turned into a circle. Donna banged furiously on the glass.

"One of you! Get down here now!"

"Stand back!" the Doctor shouted as the circle on the ceiling creaked. They all jumped backwards as it fell with a crack. Plaster crumpled around them and dust rose up around them. The Doctor made a leap for the ceiling and pulled himself into the hole, disappearing from view.

"Jenny, stay calm! We're going to get you out!" Jack shouted, rubbing the adjoining glass furiously to get a clearer view of her. The creatures had her on the ground now, one pinning her by her shoulders and the other leaning over her. The gleam of teeth was visible even in the gloom.

"Doctor! Hurry!" He could already see a circular shape begin to form on the ceiling over them. Jenny twisted her head slightly, straining to look at it. In the same moment, one of the creatures moved, following her stare.

"Jenny, it's going to be ok," Donna called.

Another creak.

He saw Jenny move, take advantage of the second's distraction and free an arm. There was a loud growl and a frantic shuffle but the plaster began to fall. Shapes seemed to race back and forth inside the dust. Somewhere in the midst of it all, there was a shout.

_And a gunshot._

"Doctor!"

"Jenny!" That was the Doctor's voice.

The dust filled the small cell for a moment and there was a sound of coughing. Then silence.

"Are they alright?" Donna called, and he could see that she was afraid to look. Finally the dust was clearing.

The Doctor stood in one end of the cell, beside the prone figure of one of the creatures. Another sat beside it, looking dazed, its eyes unfocused. Jenny, at the other end, still pointed her gun beside the silent figure of the third. Her face was deadly pale and she was breathing heavily.

"These two are just knocked out," the Doctor said. He held out a hand to Jenny.

"And the other?" Jack asked but even as he asked, he noticed the small bullet wound at the side of its head. Jenny was staring at it, as if transfixed.

"Jenny. Come on," the Doctor said.

"Go on, love, go with him," Wilf added. His face looked stricken and Jack thought he looked like he knew how Jenny might be feeling. He certainly did.

There was a sound of footsteps. Jack looked out the front of their cell to see Martha and Keira running down the hallway.

"About time!"

The women stopped in one movement as they reached Jenny's cell.

"You've left us here to slaughter each other! Is that the plan?" one of the prisoners called.

"Ok, ok," Keira said, surveying them all, "we're going to sort this out. Don't worry."

Martha was staring at them all in such horror that for a moment, Jack wondered if she had got her memory back. Her next words spoiled the happy thought.

"What's her name?" she asked, nodding at Jenny.

"Jenny," Jack said, watching her for any sign of recognition.

"Jenny..." Martha unlocked the cell, "Jenny, can you hear me? It's ok. No one's going to hurt you."

"Careful," Jack warned, unsure of Jenny's state of mind.

"Jenny, come here. We'll get you out of there," Martha said. Keira made a gesture to the Doctor to come out of the cell.

"What's going on?"

Jack groaned softly as Moira's voice proceeded her down the hallway. She looked almost accusingly at Martha and Keira and stared into the cell. Her gaze darkened when she saw the Doctor.

"What have you done?"

"It's ok. We're sorting it," Keira said and Jack watched as she and Martha exchanged wary glances. Interesting.

Martha walked slowly into the cell and stopped when she reached Jenny's side. Gently she reached down, took the gun and handed it out to Keira. She put an arm around Jenny.

"You should never have been locked in here," she said.

"Why not? They're _all_ savages," Moira said. Her voice was shrill, pitched a few notes higher than it should be.

"This isn't right," Martha said, turning around to her, "this isn't what we're about and you know it! This is torture, can't you see that? People are _dying_..."

"_People!"_ Moira laughed.

"Yes _people_!" Wilf said, his voice fierce and full of emotion, "that poor girl had no choice...look at her." He bent his head and Donna rested a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you hurt?" Keira asked Jenny who finally raised her head and shook it slowly.

"And you?" She directed her glance to the Doctor.

"No. Can you let my friends out now, please? They've been through quite enough. And these people..." He indicated the other cells. "If they're not actively posing a threat to this planet, there's no reason to keep them here like animals." His voice was cold.

"Oh no one's being _kept_ anywhere," Moira said. "Keira...start the evacuation."

Keira looked at her for a long moment then raised her arm and spoke into a device on her sleeve.

"John... evacuate the team." Her voice shook as she reached over and took Moira's arm.

"Moira...think about this..."

Moira shook her off. "Go on."

Keira turned to Martha, who shook her head.

"I'm not going," she said quietly, "and neither am I letting this happen."

Jack nodded at Martha, wishing he could convey his support to her by thought alone.

"Fine. Stay then." Moira reached into her coat and pulled out a familiar grey object with a red dot in the centre.

"You found it then?" he asked.

"I kept in the same place in our hub."

"Yeah, 'course you did. You were in charge. Just like I was. You wanted to hide it far, far away because you couldn't think of any situation that would ever call for it and you didn't want to."

"And it has now," she said dully.

"_Why?"_ Jack asked, locking eyes with her.

Moira broke the gaze first. She looked downwards, running a finger softly over the button.

"Moira." The Doctor walked slowly out of the cell, past Jenny, Martha and Keira and stood at her side. Moira stared up at him, her gaze wild.

"Doctor..." Jack said warningly. Her finger was awfully near that button.

"Just tell me one thing first," the Doctor said gently, "well, maybe two. That won't hurt, will it?"

"_What_?" The word was ground out, breathless and furious.

He waited until she met his gaze.

"Where have you all been? And what happened to you?"


	7. Chapter 7

Donna looked around. The vaults were cold but the Doctor's question seemed to send the temperature plummeting down another few degrees. Her grandfather was holding her hand tightly, for his comfort or her own, she wasn't quite sure.

No one said anything for a long moment. Moira took a deep shuddering breath and Keira moved tentatively to her side.

"It happened here." John had come into the hallway with Ianto following close behind. He looked at the device in Moira's hand and he and Keira exchanged glances.

"Here?" Jack sound sceptical.

"In Cardiff."

"But you weren't based here."

"No. We came here. To study the Rift. There was nothing like that where we were. We were...we hardly did anything until we found the illuminator. That's what we called it. It was washed up on the beach and it took us months to figure it out. When we did..."

For a fleeting second, Moira's eyes brightened. "We could see so much. It showed us aliens that we never dreamt of! All these beings in our midst and we never realised!"

"You made them vulnerable," the Doctor said quietly.

"We made them visible, just like we did to you. We _studied_ them."

"In other words, you confined them."

"Arming ourselves against the future," she corrected defensively. Her voice was slightly rushed now, as if the words which had taken so long in coming to her now couldn't be said fast enough.

"We thought there'd be more interesting creatures here to study. Rift in time and space and all that." She gave a small, cheerless laugh.

"But there was already a Torchwood here," Jack said.

"So? No one else had what we had to look for alien life. We arrived here one summer morning, really early. It was already warm...there was this lovely sunlight. It made everything look colourful."

"You're sure it was Cardiff?" Jack muttered.

"The illuminator could detect patterns as well as actual life," Moira said, ignoring him. "We'd seen that in certain places. It would pick up on atmospheres, temperature changes, anything really. And it went wild once we got here...like there was a million words sitting on top of each other. Some areas, you could just sense...like it was really excited, like it was _alive_. Doing its job.

The Doctor gave her a sharp look at that but said nothing.

"We picked this one point...the most ordinary place in the world...a little corner of a street. No shops. No houses. Just a long wall and a few weeds but the machine was going mad. I could hardly hold it. We set it down, and the six of us gathered around it. I pressed the lever. And we were taken."

"Taken?"

"Well, disappeared, pushed, whatever. It was like this mist came down and there was a sound, like a vacuum cleaner, only louder. Then...I don't know, it was like falling but I don't think any of us were fully conscious."

Keira shook her head, as if trying to clear it of something.

"You got pushed through the Rift," Jack said slowly. He turned to John. "Could you bring the machine down here? Please? I just want to look at it."

Before John could respond, the Doctor said sharply, "no! No one touches that machine." He turned back to Moira who appeared not to have heard anything, apart from the stream of memories in her mind.

"Go on," she said to her.

"We...not all of us survived the fall. I don't know what happened to them...Robert, Sam and Michelle. When we opened our eyes, we were lying on grass...well, some sort of grass. I was still holding the machine. And there were only three of us. We tried to tell ourselves that they'd been left behind, that they were still there, in Cardiff and they were fine. But when we got back here, we searched everywhere for them. And that pull, it was so strong, no one could have resisted it, standing that close. They were gone and we've never found out where.

We knew straight away that we weren't on Earth anymore but I don't know how. Isn't that weird? We could breathe and all that. It felt fairly normal but...it was completely different. Everything was just a bit off...the temperature, colours, the sky. As time went on, we noticed...no sun, no moon, space ships overhead...and the people. But right then, we only knew we were somewhere that no human had ever been. And it was...beautiful. I mean, we were so scared and three of us were missing and we had no idea if we could survive and for how long...but it was so beautiful we couldn't stop looking around and wanting to see more of it."

Donna almost laughed as the Doctor and Jack nodded in the same moment as if to reassure her that this sensation was completely understandable.

"There were these mountains, you see. They were shining...all these stars above them shone overhead all the time. And the more we tried to walk nearer to them...we never got close. And then we realised that we were on a mountain too, an identical one. There were no trees, just this strange grass...you could see for miles. It was so beautiful."

The Doctor suddenly put a hand to his forehead and groaned softly.

"The Glimstone Mountains."

"What?" Moira looked up as if only realising that he was still there. Then she nodded slowly.

"You could always see the whole planet from any point of it," the Doctor said. "That was the beauty of the Glimstone Mountains...its beauty was obvious from every point of it. The show-off planet, we used to call it. It was a tiny planet made out of mountains, nothing but these beautiful mountains that went on for miles." His face looked wretched.

"You know this place?" Jack asked.

"I _knew_ it," the Doctor replied.

"You more than knew it, though, didn't you? You and your people?" Moira's voice lost its dreaminess as she glared at the Doctor.

"Wrong place, wrong time," the Doctor said quietly. Donna crept forward and held his hand, to remind him that he wasn't alone to relive some terrible memory and also because she couldn't bear to look at his face.

"What?"

"The Time War...it was more than a war with weapons and fighting. It was literally, a _Time_ War. Paradoxes, time shifts...some of them so powerful they moved whole worlds. Like Glimstone. A quiet little paradise pulled into the middle of the most powerful war the universe had ever seen." He cleared his throat and continued quietly, "that's why it had to end."

"The people..." Keira started and stopped, her eyes filling with tears.

"Yes," the Doctor said.

"They were almost like us...same basic atonomy. Maybe a little smaller and they could certainly move faster. There was something so caring about them...like they were parents, every one of them. And their looks...they were so beautiful. We never learned their language but we communicated with them. Isn't that strange?"

The Doctor managed a faint smile.

"We knew each other's names. And we stayed with many of them in turn. They gave us house room without a word. We ate at their tables, walked the mountains with them. On our own, we felt the awful feeling that we were away from our world, completely isolated in space. And then, we'd be with them and it was like, it wasn't so different. We were looked after but never treated like royalty...or like we were a burden either, just as if we were meant to be there.

After a while, we found a way to communicate with them. Through the machine."

"Through your memories," the Doctor said.

Moira nodded.

"They used memory almost...as an art. They could change their memories, relive other peoples', they studied the power of memory. And the machine fascinated them. They found a way to work it so that we lived some of their memories. It was like they became ours. But they'd always reverse it at the end. They didn't do it to harm us...just to show us their past. And we could do it in reverse, they liked to see where we'd come from. They were so gentle."

Moira looked at the ground. "They were the only species we couldn't bear to study. And yet, we spent so long with them."

"And the war came," John said. His words seem to cut through the memories, as if he could no longer bear to hear them.

Moira nodded.

"It had been going on long before we got there, all around the planet. We saw amazing sights...and terrible ones. Ships in the sky, fires...all night sometimes. On a clear days, you could see whole worlds...stretching on forever."

"The Doctor's hand shook slightly in Donna's but his expression didn't change.

"But then, both sides...and allies of both sides...they started to land on Glimstone. At first, we thought they'd come to invade or to kill them. We helped the people build shelters and they invited us to share them.

But it seemed that anyone who came to Glimstone wanted to make allies of the people and to use their mountains as...I don't know...a vantage point, some sort of base. Sometimes we spoke to them. We wanted to learn more about the war. After a while, it got dangerous. The people...they told us to stay in the shelters. We helped with food distribution and first aid sometimes. Sometimes we'd share memories to keep each other's spirits up. We couldn't keep up on the outside anymore, you see, and we couldn't understand and when we began to, the damage had been done."

"They were completely split," John said. "The people... they had all decided on different sides to support. Some were terrified into it, some had been made promises of safety, prosperity, whatever. But between, they had started another war."

"We tried communicating with them," Keira said. "We tried to tell them that they should have nothing more to do with the war. It was pointless really, I mean, they were sitting targets anyway but to see them destroying themselves..."

"It didn't take long," Moira said tonelessly. "They were completely drawn into the War...without even the advantage of being able to stand together as a nation."

"And they changed toward us," Keira said, "suddenly they bargained with us over our safety, rather than offering protection as they had done since we arrived. They wanted the machine. They...they wanted to see our world again over and over and what we knew about other worlds. Our heads...sometimes it was like we had no control over our thoughts. It got to a point that in the middle of the fighting one day, we took a chance and made a run from it, from _them_."

"How did you get back here?" the Doctor asked.

"One day the cave we'd been hiding in...it was being watched by some of the Glimstone people...and we were sure they knew we were in there. But the Daleks came...the Daleks terrified us, the little we'd seen of them...and the people...even the _mention_ of Daleks seemed to traumatise them."

Donna shuddered in sympathy, captivated with how weird it was to hear other people discussing Timelords and Daleks.

"We managed to get out and run. Didn't look back...just ran. We kept going for hours...and then we stopped at this one place for water," Moira said, "and...I had the machine. I carried it everywhere with me. It hadn't worked since we arrived and I thought it never would again but I still wanted to have it."

"It started jumping," Keira added, "the vibrations were so intense, it was just like Cardiff. And in a way, it was like, suddenly we remembered how much we wanted to go home...that it was meant to happen. I think we hugged each other, in case we didn't all make it. We took one last look...the mountains and those...beautiful people. And we were taken home."

"Years had passed," Moira said, "and no one cared about where we'd been. Our hub was long gone, we were Torchwood, risky job...we were just written off. We couldn't settle back...couldn't eat, couldn't sleep. So...we decided to go back to Glimstone. I think, maybe, being away, we forgot how frightening it was there. We came back to Cardiff, back to the same spot, same thing with the machine, I don't think any of us cared if we survived the trip or not."

"And..." the Doctor whispered.

"We landed on the bare earth. Bare, scorched earth. Flattened land. No more mountains, no more people, no more air. After a minute, we were sent straight back to Earth, as if the machine knew we couldn't survive."

"It had no incentive to work there anymore," the Doctor said.

"What we saw...was enough to know that it was gone," Keira said. "It is, isn't it?"

The Doctor nodded. "You wouldn't get anywhere near it now. But some of the people survived, I can tell you that."

"But why do _this_?" Donna asked, "Why come here and..." She waved an arm around the hallway.

"Because our hub was gone," Moira said, "and we needed a new one for what we have to do."

At this, Keira and John looked uncomfortable.

"Which is what?" Jack asked. "Destroy every alien being in sight because the ones you met were destroyed in a war? Or did you just want to put into practice what they taught you about memories? With a lot more malice than they had!"

"No! It's because we can't possibly arm ourselves against what's out there!" Moira shouted. "The only way we can ever, _ever_ be truly safe is by ensuring that no alien can survive here!"

"But that's..." Jack began but the Doctor held up a hand.

"I'm sorry," he told Moira solemnly, "but I have to tell you this, Moira. You faced enemies in that world that you could never have anticipated. Worse still, you faced enemies that you thought were friends. But you never realised, did you, the worst enemy of all was the one you carried everywhere with you."

"What?"

"The machine."

"The machine saved us!"

The Doctor nodded. "It's not an illuminator and it's a lot more than an atmosphere perception detector. It tapped into your deepest desire, which was to see the universe. It took that desire and twisted it because that's how they manipulate people...and make them into manipulators in turn. It's giving you everything you want...at a great cost."

"Where's it from?" Jack asked.

"A ruined planet. One with inhabitants who anticipated the war and did everything they could to survive it. One of whom, Jack, is sitting patiently at the far end of this hall."

Jack's face cleared.

"The Feyad! She was found standing in the middle of Cardiff..."

"Yes. Waiting to be captured because she sensed that what belongs to her wasn't very far away. Those machines are like their souls. Without them, they're weak. Changing forms for our enjoyment, well, it's just a nice little trick, isn't it? But really...that machine is her strength. Literally. She's soaking up all that energy now. Next time any of us touches it, it'll be in her full control again. That's how they work. The more they're used, the stronger they are. You were lucky that it got you home. Maybe you confused it into thinking you were its master. Who knows?"

"She_ sent_ us there?" Moira asked quietly.

The Doctor shrugged. "You were using her machine independently of her. Her machine transported you. You thought you were taking over Torchwood to save the world. She was sitting here calmly waiting for you. Wheels within wheels."

"She dies first then," Moira shouted, turning around. Keira caught her arm and held it. In the brief scuffle, Donna saw her ease the small device with the red button out of Moira's hand.

"How come we found the machine in the first place?" John asked. "Did she lose it in the war?"

"Oh she didn't lose it," the Doctor said, "she sent it to you."

"_What_?"

"She sent it into the universe so that someone could travel to Glimstone and show them how to survive outside it. _You_ couldn't bear to study _them_ but they were happy to study _you_! Didn't you ever wonder how a race of people who lived such a simple life could use the machine so well?"

"What? What d'you..?"

"The Glimstone Mountains." He sighed. "A little Paradise to anyone who came there. Think about it! Daleks have no emotions and they can't be manipulated by _desire_. They even managed to hold _them_ off for a while! That's why so many of them survived, Moira, in a place that was doomed from the beginning. They were whatever anybody wanted them to be. The one word we've all used about that planet? Beautiful. You've used that word countless times to describe them. It was beautiful to anyone who saw it."

"You mean?" Jack whistled softly.

"The Glimstone Moutains were inhabited by a race of people known as Feyads."


	8. Chapter 8

"But they..." Jack stopped, looking thoughtful. "Yes. They take the form of what you want them to be. You guys...alone in a whole new world. They protected you...they were like parents."

The Doctor nodded. "Their world was separated from most of the universe before the shift. They'd destroyed everything around them. But the shift changed all that. Suddenly they were surrounded by species they couldn't manipulate. We tried to protect them, my people and I. Anyone who came to fight with us were warned them to leave the Feyad race well alone but they didn't listen. They'd go there, take one look and fall in love with the place. It was never a good vantage point. They convinced themselves they needed to be there."

Donna listened, trying to take it in, trying to picture that lost world. She'd been so engrossed in trying to talk to Ianto on their way in, she had never noticed the prisoner in the first cell. Despite the circumstances, she was suddenly overwhelmed to have a look, to know what form it might take for her.

Moira took a deep breath and stared at her two colleagues. Then, without warning, she turned and ran. Keira darted after her but John hesitated and reached over to the locked cell.

"Don't hurt her," he said, standing aside to let them out.

Jack tore down the hall behind the Doctor. Donna followed her grandfather, watching him carefully for any signs that this might be all too much for him. But he was surprisingly nonchalant, seemingly at home with the unheard-of experiences that had thrown at him in the last half hour. Maybe if you'd lived through a war, there was little that could truly surprise or shock you. You had already seen everything, expected anything. As he passed Jenny, he put out a hand and touched her shoulder. Donna took her hand.

"You alright?"

Jenny nodded, giving her a brief smile.

They reached the cell. Moira, Keira and John were standing silently, mesmerised by the creature within. Keira held Moira's hand tightly. They suddenly reminded Donna of children. Lost children. Despite everything, she felt terribly sorry for them.

But the creature. Leaning a bit forward, she looked into the cell...

_...where the Doctor stared steadily back._

"No way!" She was aware of the others turning to look at her but she didn't care. Jack raised an eyebrow and mouthed "_what?"_

"What is it, sweetheart?" her granddad asked quietly. He hadn't approached the cell.

"It's all...wrong..." she said, terrified that they could all see what she could. What the hell would the _actual_ Doctor think?

But the form was already shimmering as if to tell her that she was the one to have it all wrong. It was the Doctor. But it was more than that. It was...

_...a heartbeat_

..._a hand_

_...a feeling of pure, unadulterated understanding...of worlds turning around her, within her...of civilisations growing and bending to the will of the universe...of harmony...of simple knowing..._

_...exhilaration..._

_...and a watch._

Suddenly she knew what she needed to do. Donna took a deep breath and backed away.

..................................................

Moira, Keira and John looked shattered. The expressions on their faces made them look far older then they were. Jack had an image of the people they'd been. He'd seen their photos. Read their files. They'd been a team. In the midst of their work, they'd had fun. Bright young things. Sent into a world they were never meant to see.

"Are there any other sightings of Feyads?" the Doctor asked, disturbing his thoughts.

Jack shook his head. "We've only seen this one but let's face it, they're pretty hard to spot. You noticed her on the way down here?" _What did she look like_? was the question he really wanted to ask and the Doctor smiled slightly as if he knew it.

"They were...all that time? We were just a study?" Keira asked. She looked determinedly away from the Feyad.

"Yes," the Doctor said gently. "In many ways, they did and do live as simply as you thought. Their defence mechanisms are what makes them dangerous. One of the most destructive thing there is, desire. Besides that...Donna? Are you ok?"

Donna was standing apart from them, staring at the cell, looking as if she was not really seeing anything. She looked up and nodded vaguely.

"The memory manipulation...they taught you that?" Jack asked John and Keira.

"Moira's the only one who can do that," John said. "We were never able to learn it."

"We thought," Moira hesitated, pushing against the words, "the war destroyed them."

"Not all," the Doctor said. "All the Feyad have ever wanted is to be left alone, just as they are. Not unlike your plan for the earth, Moira. Alien beings are not part of their grand plan. Living their lives...mingling thousands of beautiful dreams...sharing each other's dreams and memories, being all things to each other."

The Feyad's eyes, Jack noticed, were fixed on Moira.

"You _destroyed_ us," Moira said, facing it. Whatever she saw in that cell was making her paler by the second.

"Moira," the Doctor said gently, "come away. This won't help."

"The machine," Jenny said suddenly, "can you feel it?"

Jack looked around for whatever it was she noticed. But the Doctor gave her an appraising look.

"I feel it," he said.

"What?" Jack asked impatiently.

"It's vibrating," Jenny said slowly, "it's like it's connecting with..." She pointed at the Feyad, then turned to look at the Doctor, her face shocked and pale.

"What do you see?" he asked her gently.

But Jenny wouldn't say. She just stared into the cell.

Now he could feel the air starting to change. The temperature was rising for a start. Something heavy was pressing down. He could see the others notice it too. Wilf took in a deep gulp of air and Keira cupped her hands over her mouth.

"It's killing us," she gasped.

Moira approached the glass slowly, intent on the creature within.

"I loved you," she said in a half-whisper, "I loved you all."

The Doctor stood beside her and addressed the Feyad.

"This is a warning," he said in a tone undercut with ice. "You leave these people alone. You can have your machine if you agree to leave here. Immediately. Go back to wherever it is you've made your home. If not, it gets destroyed and you stay here forever, far, far away from your people."

The Feyad, in whatever form she took to the Doctor, rose to her feet. Slowly, she turned to face him and nodded slowly.

The Doctor nodded curtly back.

"Moira, come away."

But Moira was so close now, her hands pressed tightly against the glass.

"I've never seen..." Her voice broke and wobbled. "I've seen anything like it..." Tears streamed down her face.

A mist gathered around them. They were choking.

Jack could hardly see.

"Donna!" The Doctor's voice was urgent. "Jack, where's Donna?"

"I don't know! She's here, isn't she? Donna!"

"Donna?" Wilf staggered up beside them. "Where is she? Is something wrong with her?" A fit of coughing made him bend forward, gasping for breath.

"Jack...have to stop her. I'll be right back!"

"Stop her? From what?"

In the gloom, the Doctor stepped close to him.

"Think about it Jack. How it might have tempted her? Think about what our friend here has done to _you_."

"_What?"_

The words hit him like a blow to the stomach. For a second, he thought he'd actually been slammed into the wall.

_What?_

"Yeah. Go on," he muttered.

The lights overhead flickered. The mist was almost tangible now. He could feel it, pressing down. Affecting him? Of course it wasn't. How could it?

_Affecting him._

"Stop it!" Jack yelled. She simply stared steadily back.

Wilf slid to the ground.

Martha and Ianto were the first to reach him but even as they crouched down, they both slumped down beside him. As he tried to reach them, Jack felt someone else against his feet. It seemed that everyone was affected now. He should probably move them all further down the hall, as far away from the Feyad and whatever she was doing, as they could get.

"Keira?" He reached down, trying to find her shoulders to move her. Jenny knelt beside them, and looked up at him. Her eyes were enormous.

"It's not affecting me either," she said.

"Good! Are they breathing?"

"Yeah. For now." Jenny groped around. "John's here too." She reached into Keira's pocket and retrieved her gun. She stared at it.

"We could shoot that creature, couldn't we?" she asked in a whisper. "You could open the door. If it saved everyone...If it was the only way..."

"We could." Jack stared steadily back at her.

"And then I could shoot that machine. Destroy the inside of it. It'd break the connection."

"Absolutely."

Jenny crept forward on her knees towards the cell and stopped abruptly, looking back at him.

"What?" Jack asked nonchalantly.

"I just thought," her voice wavered slightly. "If we move them all...back towards the end of the hall, they'll breathe easier for a bit longer. We should do that first."

"Never thought of that!" Jack gave her a small salute. "Just as well one of us is thinking along the lines of the Doctor, isn't it?"

Wherever the hell he was...


	9. Chapter 9

She had asked the Doctor to hide the fobwatch for her and she knew that there wasn't a hope in hell of finding something he had hidden with her safety in mind. But the machine could help her. Somehow she was certain of that.

The hub was quiet. The commotion from the vaults didn't reach up here or maybe it was quiet because something had happened. She looked around uncertainly. The whiteness of the place still looked so wrong. Every screen was blank. The yellow machine was the only thing that looked awake. It was quivering slightly, little lights flashing at the base. She stared at it, mesmerised by the flashes of colour. They lit up the area around it, seemed to stretch, further and further toward the next desk...the next screen...

...The TARDIS

There it was, standing peacefully in the middle of the room. Donna walked towards it, reaching for the key around her neck. She knew that once she opened the door, the same little lights would show her where she needed to search. She would find the watch. And then...

_What?_

She'd save everyone, that was for sure. Just as she'd done on the Crucible, she'd know everything that needed to be done. Her Granddad would be safe and so would The Doctor and Jack. She'd know how to help Jack's team recover their memories, and what best to do for Moira, Keira and John. She'd see the lost world they'd described. She'd share the Doctor's pain as he talked about his own. Beyond that... But surely there might be a way of keeping herself alive. The machine could do anything.

She stopped and looked back at the machine. The little lights were still travelling alongside her. In fact, they were ahead of her now. But the machine itself was shaking. It looked set to jump off the table as if something were pulling it. Maybe it was imagination but she could feel it too...a faint tug...

The Feyad. She was communicating with the machine. Could she summon it?

"No!" Donna turned and threw herself across it, holding it down against the table it had been placed on. For a second, it was still under her hands and then the movement started again, almost dislodging her. A fierce heat emanated from somewhere in its centre, burning her hands and wrists as she pressed firmly down.

"Doctor!" she screamed.

"I'm here, Donna!" She closed her eyes in relief at the sound of his voice. She could hear his footsteps dashing across the hub towards her but she dared not move, even to look up, as long as she had any sort of hold on the machine.

"Hold on," he said, pulling out the screwdriver.

"What the bloody hell do you _think_ I'm doing?!"

"Ok!" She heard the soft whirr of the screwdriver. The movement of the machine lessened slightly.

"That should hold it for a few minutes," the Doctor said. "We need to get it and its owner back home. I'm not handing it over to her until I know how to get her well away from here."

"Right." She straightened slightly, as he leaned on the machine, helping her to keep it still. The trail of lights was fading. She watched the last glimpse of them disappear from the TARDIS door as she turned back and forced herself to meet the Doctor's steady gaze.

"You didn't?" he asked.

She shook her head. "Is Gramps ok?"

"He's unconscious, Donna. No!" He held up a hand as she started to move. "It's ok. That pull between her and the machine releases a gas. Knocks out anyone who isn't one of _them_ so no one can interfere. They'll all be out for the count. Except for us and Jenny. The TARDIS is watching our backs." He smiled affectionately at his ship. "And Jack. Well...maybe not. Jack is a bit of a mystery these days. But, first things first! Can you hold it for another minute? I'm going to need the TARDIS for this. Got to make sure the machine has its instructions from us rather than _her_."

Donna nodded.

"Will they be ok?"

He looked at her seriously.

"They'll be ok for another ten minutes and that's all we need. Believe me, it's better for them. She can't manipulate them while they're knocked out. Especially Moira...did you hear what she said?"

"No."

"Here," he added, handing her his jacket, "put this under your hands so it won't burn you again. When the lights come on again, we grab the machine and carry it down. I'll give it to her and she'll disappear."

"Be quick then," she said.

He nodded at her and ran into the TARDIS.

She heard the faint purr of the ship and a series of clattering that could have been someone preparing dinner in a hurry.

"Oi! Hurry up in there! What are you doing?" The machine was getting hard to hold once again. And even through the Doctor's jacket, the heat was building. The TARDIS seemed to glow and for a moment, she thought it was about to disappear. Then the Doctor appeared at the door. A faint blue light flickered behind him.

"Look!" he shouted, pointing at a screen in front of her just as it lit up.

The screen showed a view of the vaults. Donna swallowed as she saw her grandfather lying on the ground beside the others. Jack and Jenny knelt beside them, talking to each other.

"They're ok?" she asked faintly.

"Look at the Feyad's cell," the Doctor said.

She followed the viewer as it moved across the scene.

"Moira! Moira's still conscious?"

"Yes."

"But you said they'd all..."

"Exactly! Come on! Quick!" He ran to her side and helped her to scoop up the machine. They ran awkwardly out of the hub and back towards the vaults.

Everything was deadly silent. Donna had a brief impression of what looked like some sort of very surreal battleground with prone figures lying together and what was worse, the form of the Doctor inside the cell, staring almost accusingly at her.

"Don't look at her," _her_ Doctor said.

Then she heard Jack's voice.

"Woke up in bed with _both_ my executioners. Very nice couple! Are you sure the Doctor never told you this story?"

"No," Jenny's voice was shaky, but this time with laughter.

"Well, believe it or not, there's another part to it. You see..."

"Jack!" Donna crept up beside them. "There's a time and a place!"

"You said it," Jack replied, "if now isn't the time to telling funny stories, I don't know when is! You alright?"

"Yeah." Donna looked back nervously to where the Doctor was scanning the Feyad with the screwdriver. Now _that_ looked surreal.

"Setting the co-ordinates," he told the Feyad, "it'll take you back to where your people are." He looked over and nodded at Jack and Jenny, then gave Donna a significant look. She understood he was telling her to keep them back. He took hold of Moira's shoulders and gently steered her towards them. She looked dazed.

"Come over here," Donna called quietly to her.

Moira took a few steps towards them.

"You're sending it away?" she asked tremulously, all the former authority in her voice gone.

"Yeah." Donna stopped, unsure of what was best to say to the woman. The Doctor approached the glass and called over to them.

"Open the vault."

In one moment, Moira and Jack pressed buttons on devices on their wrist. Jack dropped his first with a frustrated sigh.

"I still haven't forgotten that you've stolen my job," he told Moira.

"I still haven't forgotten what you really are," she replied, "any of you. You're all _wrong_. You can't do any good here, you know that. It's a joke. Torchwood, run by people who are anything but human!"

"We do ok," Jack said smoothly and Donna realised that he was trying to keep her talking while the Doctor eased himself into the open vault.

"Do you?" She raised an eyebrow. "The truth is that each of you knows how wrong you are. Especially _you_. You know what this life has done to you and you'd do anything to change back to the way you were."

"Still talking about us?"

There was a steady humming now and the sound of the Doctor's voice.

"Ok...that's my part of the bargain. Press the button and go."

The humming sound increased.

"Do you think he's ok?" Donna whispered.

Then, a harsh thud and a muffled cry, cutting through the loaded silence.

"Doctor!"

Dimly aware of the others moving beside her, Donna tore down the corridor and back to the cell.

The Doctor was lying on his back in front of the Feyad (still in the Doctor's form...she tried not to look), his eyes closed and a small gash above one eye. Jack pushed her out of the way and dived forward but just as quickly, stumbled back.

"What the hell? Let me in there!"

Something was pulling them back, like magnets repelling each other.

"Ok." Donna took a deep breath, still trying not to look at it. "Go on. Do what the Doctor said. There's still five of us against one of you."

"We have weapons here," Jack said, "and believe me, sweetheart, there's nothing _beautiful_ about them."

_Sweetheart?_ What the hell did he see?

The Feyad was listening though. Slowly she bent and picked up the machine as if it was weightless. Her fingers brushed against the button, once, twice.

"Press it," Jack said warningly.

There was a rush of air and sound. For a second, Donna thought it was merely beginning the process. Too late, she realised it was coming from behind her as Moira pushed her way through them.

"Moira! Stop! Get back here!"

Jack tried to pull her back, his fingers missing the back of her jacket by inches. Nothing stopped her getting in. With a cry, she threw herself into the creature's outstretched arms.

"No!" Jack shouted."Don't! Wait!"

The lights flickered twice and a gust of wind rattled through the hallway. Then the air was clear and the cell was empty, apart from the still figure of the Doctor on the dusty floor.


	10. Chapter 10

Jack was the first to reach the Doctor. He knelt beside him and placed a hand on his chest. Jenny and Donna hovered anxiously. Donna was almost afraid to look too closely at his pale face.

"Doctor! Come on! This is no time to be sleeping on the job!" Jack reached into his pocket and pulled out the screwdriver. He tossed it to Donna.

"Here! Check and see where he's hurt!"

"What?" Donna held it out. "How do I do that?"

"You seen him do it often enough!"

"So have you! Oh, here then!"

Donna aimed the screwdriver at the Doctor's chest. Her hand shook violently.

"Maybe I should try," Jack and Jenny said at the same time.

"No! I remember! Wait...he did it to me...pressed this, and..."

"Donna, give it back and that's an order!"

But Donna had already pressed. She heard the familiar buzz from the screwdriver.

"I don't know what it means though, do I?"

"Ow! For the love of...what are you doing? Turn it off!" the Doctor's voice protested weakly.

"Thank God!" Jack grinned at him. "How are you doing?"

"Right now...probably better than you, Jack."

Without comment, Jack held out an hand. Taking it, the Doctor smiled at Donna and Jenny.

"Well done! Looks like you've dispatched our little friend. I thought she was trying to make a run for it, clobbering me like that! Did she put up a fight?"

"No," Donna said, "but...I'm sorry, Doctor, Moira went with her. We couldn't stop her."

The Doctor sat up and got shakily to his feet. He took the screwdriver from Donna and scanned the spot from which they had vanished.

"Donna?"

Donna spun around to see her grandfather in a sitting position. Around him, the others were stirring too.

"Moira's gone? Is that what you said?" Keira struggled to her feet, leaning on John.

"You've got to get her back!" John shouted.

Donna walked over and knelt beside Wilf.

"Are you ok?"

He nodded, giving her a small smile.

"As long as you are, sweetheart."

"Jack?" Martha was on her feet, staring at Jack as if he was an apparition. Beside her Ianto was helping Mickey and Gwen to their feet.

"Go and talk to them," the Doctor said quietly, "the memory manipulation will be weakening."

"Yeah." Jack looked suddenly distracted. He patted his coat, as if checking for something. From where she sat, Donna could see that his face looked very pale once again. _Jack's a mystery these days_, the Doctor had said.

"Yes?" the Doctor asked, watching him.

Jack reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked like a glass vial. He stared at it for a moment and then held it out.

"It's double sealed," was all he said.

"Thank you," the Doctor said quietly, pocketing it. Donna waited, wondering when might be a good time to start asking questions. They stared at each other for a few seconds, then Jack turned back to his team.

"What happened?" Gwen asked, looking dazed.

"I think we may have some explaining to do, sir," Ianto said.

"Yeah." Jack rubbed his head, as if wondering where to start.

"How'd you manage not to forget me?" he asked.

"I don't know," Ianto said thoughtfully, "I mean, it's not like you're all that unforgettable."

Jack laughed and put an arm around Martha.

"Come on," he said to his team, "we need to go sort your heads out a bit."

Keira was trying to wrestle the screwdriver out of the Doctor's hand.

"You can get her back, I know you can, please! I know she did..._we _did...stupid things. She's not well. You saw that!"

The Doctor looked at them sadly.

"Keira, John, I'm very sorry. I really am. But there's no getting her back. Not now. They keep their home a secret, remember me telling you that? Glimstone was destroyed. The survivors will be well hidden in their new world. I could only set the co-ordinates to take that Feyad back to wherever her species were. It's better that we don't know, you see."

"But they've got Moira. They'll kill her."

"I don't think they will," he replied slowly. "Would I be right in saying, Keira, that what you saw when you looked at the Feyad just now, was someone you loved?"

Keira nodded slowly, her eyes bright.

"My boyfriend," she whispered, "I haven't been able to find him since we returned."

"Yet, on Glimstone, you saw no one relating to Earth at all, did you? The Feyads there took the form of protectors. They looked human but not familiar."

Keira nodded.

"And John? You said that Moira was the only one who learned how to do memory manipulation. Why?"

John looked at Keira. "They tried to teach us all...when we'd share memories. But Keira and I couldn't get the hang of it. Maybe we didn't want to. It was creepy...we hated how they could get into our heads but at first, we went along with it. We thought that was how they communicated and that it would rude not to go along with it. But Moira...she was really into it."

"She was," the Doctor said. "There was a fundamental difference between you all on Glimstone, wasn't there? You two...you were surviving as best you could. Moira _found_ something there. Something she never had on Earth." He shrugged. "It happens. And they loved her."

"What? They didn't love anything...they manipulated us! You said..."

"Why did they let you get away? You escaped from Glimstone with one of their machines, remember? The Feyads are a powerful race. They could've stopped you going at any time. But they let you go. They let you go because their planet was doomed and there was no other way they could save you...or more specifically, save Moira."

"_What_?"

But John was staring at the Doctor.

"Is that why Moira wanted to come here? To find a way back? But she'd have said..."

"She wanted to be connected with that world in any way she could," Donna said hesitantly, pulling the words out of her own memory.

"Maybe she wanted to test the machine again and where better than Torchwood?" the Doctor said. "You were all traumatised by what you'd been through and Moira was grieving. Grieving for what she'd found and loved. Questioning herself. Wondering if any of it was as real as she thought. On the other hand, she was scared and angry and looking for revenge against a world that had forgotten about you all."

"And there was a Feyad here all along," John said.

The Doctor nodded. "One Feyad who came back for her machine because she knew it would lead her to Moira. Remember what Moira said when she looked at it? She said _I've never seen anything like it._ Well, no one says that when they see a Feyad! You know exactly what, or who, you're looking it! That's their power! But in Moira's case, her deepest desire was right in front of her. I think she might be the first human ever to see a Feyad's natural form."

"But she's gone," Keira said shakily, "we won't be able to find her."

The Doctor shook his head. "I'm sorry. I really am very sorry."

Donna felt Jenny move nearer to her.

"Do you feel the air changing?" she whispered.

Donna nodded. "Yeah...I never realised it was so tight before. It seems easier to breathe now."

In the semi-darkness, Jenny's eyes looked very bright.

"I can understand why Moira did it," she whispered.

"What?"

"Sometimes the world you're born in isn't the world you're meant to live in."

"No." Donna squeezed her hand.

"Alright?" she whispered to her Granddad on her other side. He was watching them silently and for a moment there, she thought she'd seen tears in his eyes.


	11. Chapter 11

Donna held her grandfather tightly, trying not to let him see her unease. It seemed too soon to send him home. What if he needed someone to talk to about what he had just been through? She had tried to convince him to stay a little longer in the TARDIS with them, at least until he'd had a chance to relax and talk about things, but to her surprise he had remained firm.

"Please? We could take you travelling...somewhere, anywhere you've always wanted to go."

He smiled at her. "I know. And it's not that I wouldn't want that, 'course I would. But your mom will be frantic by now. Sooner I get home, less painful it's going to be."

Beside them, the Doctor sighed, watching Keira and John, who were huddled together at a desk.

"I feel responsible for them," he said quietly.

"None of this is your fault," Donna said, sounding sharper than she'd meant to.

"No?" He looked intently at her and she could almost see him struggle with what he wanted, or didn't want, to say next.

"At least they're_ here_," she said, "They're not wandering the streets on their own. We'll think of something."

"I'll sit with them for a while," Jenny said. She turned toward them and then looked back at the Doctor. Her face looked very tense.

"Is that ok?"

"Yeah, 'course it is. They'd appreciate that." He smiled at her, one of his quick, 100 watt smiles.

Jenny's face froze for a second as if she had caught her breath too quickly. She turned quickly and caught his hands, holding them tightly for a moment.

"Thanks," she whispered, and then, with a sharp nod, she turned and walked away.

The Doctor watched her, frowning.

"What was that?"

"I don't think she was expecting to be forgiven."

"I don't blame her for defending herself in a hostile situation but...how do I teach her that without the gun, there would be a way of getting out of them _before_ they reach the hostile stage?"

"Give her time. She hasn't experienced many situations that aren't hostile yet, has she?"

"No. I just hope...I don't want her to feel..." He broke off, looking helpless.

"What?"

"I don't want her suffering because...that's what it does." He indicated the discarded gun.

"That's all it does," he whispered.

"So tell her," Donna said, fixing her eyes on his face. "Talk to her about it, Doctor. Because you don't talk about it and it'll help you both."

He nodded vaguely.

"You're supposed to say, _yes, Donna, that's a great idea! Thank you!"_

His face cleared and he took one of her hands.

"What would I do without you, Donna Noble!"

"I don't know. How you survived this long without an ounce of common sense is a complete mystery." She turned back to her grandfather who was standing by the TARDIS.

"I'll come home with you for a bit," she said, even though she knew it was a bad time to leave the Doctor. Not for the first time, she felt torn between the two strongest forces in her life.

"No, sweetheart." He patted her hand and lowered his voice. "I think the Doctor needs you and he'll never say it, will he? You come and see me when you've got things under control here."

He stood up and looked around the hub, calling out to Jack who sat at the far end with his team sitting silently around him.

"I'd like to come back someday, see this place in full operation mode."

"Anytime sir!" Jack said heartily. He offered Wilf a smart salute.

"Pleasure to have had you on board! I can see the old adventuring spirit runs in the family!"

"We'll take you home," the Doctor told him, and Donna felt his hand pat her shoulder reassuringly. "Maybe we'll let Donna pilot, how about that? Or...no...you might want to have had a slightly easier day before facing that kind of fear! Ow! Got a tough hand, hasn't she? Maybe we'll take in a little tour along the way! You like to watch the stars? Well, what about a look at good old Earth _from_ the stars?"

Wilf smiled and held out his hand to Donna.

.........................................

"I can't believe we just...forgot everything." Martha's voice was shaky and her eyes were dull. Jack felt helpless as he looked at his team. They all looked completely shell-shocked.

Gwen was looking at him rather warily.

"Are you going to make us forget?" she asked, and something in her voice implied that she knew there was no option if that was what he wanted.

"No," he said gently. "Forgetting won't do you much good and besides, if by any chance there's more Feyads around here, you need to know what you're up against."

"_We_ need to know," Ianto corrected quietly, giving him a rather pointed look.

"Yeah, _we_ need to remember everything the Doctor said about them."

"It was so real though," Mickey said, "Moira, I mean. It was like she'd always been here."

"Memory manipulation's a very powerful art," Jack told them. "It's worse than erasing memories because it messes with what everything you already remember." He felt a shudder run through him.

"We forgot _you_," Martha whispered, "and _the Doctor_."

"Never thought you'd see the day that would happen," Jack said, keeping his voice light. "Martha, honestly, there's nothing to be ashamed of. From what the Doctor said, she learned from the best. Do you remember when she came to Torchwood? You and Ianto went to talk to her. Do you remember any of that?"

Martha shook her head slowly. "Maybe, I don't know. I think I remember telling you...and something about erasing her memory. You...Jack, you collapsed! You weren't well."

"It was nothing," Jack replied, deliberately avoiding Ianto's steady gaze. "Don't worry. It's all over and I'm fine. We _all _are."

................................................

"I don't know what we do now," Keira said. "I know it was terrible...and stupid...what we did. I know that. Those people probably want to murder us slowly, and I don't blame them. But...it was something to do, you know. It was a plan. Moira made it all sound so right."

"I'm sure she was very persuasive," Jenny said, "don't forget, she was probably using a fair amount of manipulation on you."

Keira shivered. "Don't," she whispered, "it doesn't...I can't think of her that way. Not after everything we've been through together."

"Sorry," Jenny said, "but you _do_ have to move on. You're here. You're alive."

John shook his head slightly, as if trying to deny even that simple fact.

"No really." Jenny struggled to put her thoughts into words. "That's what it comes down to. I _know_. You can lose everything and find yourself alone but...you have to go with what you've got, even if that's not very much. There's _always_ something."

.................................................................

The TARDIS materialised back into the centre of the hub just as Ianto came in with a tray of coffees. He stopped along the way to hand cups out to Keira, John and Jenny. Jack smiled slightly at Jenny's suspicious glance at the cup. Clearly the Doctor had been making her coffee at some stage recently.

"Talk to them," he said to his team, nodding towards Keira and John. "I know it's hard but it'll help you understand what's happened better. If you decide you want nothing more to do with them, fine, I'll respect that but talk to them first, see what you think."

"John knows a lot about the invisibility shield theory," Ianto said, his voice just the right side of cajoling.

"There's no such thing," Gwen said witheringly.

"No. But when you hear him talk about it, you might realise that there _could_ be."

"Martha?" Jack knelt in front of her. "Please talk to them. I'll trust your judgement, you know that. I want to know what you think about them and what we should do."

She stood up slowly, her eyes widening as the TARDIS came back into view.

"The Doctor would give them a chance," she said finally.

Jack nodded, smiling at her.

"I'll be here if you need me."

................................................................................

As Jack entered the TARDIS he could hear the sound of raised voices.

"Donna! Be reasonable, _please_. I'm not about to mess with your mind!"

"You wouldn't bloody dare!"

"Look, it's totally painless and it won't last more than five minutes!"

"Well there's a selling point if ever I heard one," Jack said, closing the door behind him with a bang. Donna and the Doctor stood at opposite ends of the console, Donna gripping one side as if for dear life.

"Tell him, Jack," Donna said, her voice high-pitched with indignation, "tell him that if I happen to be perfectly happy the way I am, then he has no right to..."

"What do you mean, the way you are?"

"I need to fix her genetic code," the Doctor said, in a tone of voice that sounded like he had said these words many times. "It's not going to change or alter you in any way whatsoever. Donna, you can't go around the rest of your life with dormant Timelord genes in your body! They're not doing anything...you won't lose anything. If you ever have to go to a hospital, it'll cause huge complications..."

"Why would I? You being a _Doctor_ and all?"

"...and if your genes are put right, there's less chance of any harm being done if that watch should ever find its way into your hands and that's a real danger, Donna. I told you. Those watches have a habit of finding their way back into their owner's hands."

"I can deal with that!"

"Can you? You looked pretty determined to find it no so long ago!"

"But I didn't, did I?"

They stared at each other, their expressions so similarly furious that it made Jack want to laugh. He held up his hands.

"Ok, ok, deep breath!"

Donna obeyed him and back away slightly from the console. Her eyes remained trained on the Doctor, as if she were afraid he was about to _mess with her genetics_ at any moment. Jack smirked, despite the tension.

"Jack, whatever you're about to say, don't." the Doctor said. "Don't forget, there's a few matters we still need to discuss."

"That's right," Donna said, her voice bright again, "why don't I leave you to it and I'll just see how Jenny's doing?"

Without bothering to reply, the Doctor raised the screwdriver and aimed it at the TARDIS door.

"You're locking us in?" Jack raised an eyebrow and stepped well back from the force of Donna's inevitable tirade.

But she seemed to deflate. Looking down at the ground, she muttered something inaudible.

"Talk to me," the Doctor said, his voice gentle now.

"I _said_..." Donna paused and raised her head to look directly at him. "It hurt enough losing all of that the first time around."

"You're not _losing_ anything!"

"No, I know but...think about it." She looked pleadingly at him. "Imagine if you lost everything that made you a Timelord. Imagine if, suddenly, you became human..."

"Sometimes I see the appeal."

"Yeah...sometimes. But you don't really, do you? I _know_ how you suffered, remember? I felt it all, that day. All your loss, all that anger, the pain you never talk about. But I felt _everything_ as well...it was like the whole universe was in my head and every little pattern binding every world together. I saw all they all fit together, how one little timeline out of place could destroy a hundred worlds. How a civilisation could begin just because a rock falls a million miles away. It was _brilliant_. _I_ was..."

"Donna, I told you before. None of that is as important as who _you_ are. It's knowledge, that's all. You can..."

"_Please._ I know it has to be done. But not yet. I'm not ready to lose that last little piece. Knowing that those genes are there, even if they're meaningless and wrong, I want to keep them for another while."

The Doctor stared back at her, his expression unreadable for a moment. Then he walked slowly around the console, as if tentatively approaching a frightened animal, and put his arms around her.

Jack walked over to the couch and sat down quietly, not liking to invade the moment. But the Doctor straightened and looked over at him with a sad smile.

"Jack..."

"Yes?"

"If Donna can live with being...well...a bit of a mistake..."

"Watch it," Donna muttered.

"Don't you think you can too?"


	12. Chapter 12

Donna glanced at Jack and murmured something about checking on Jenny. The Doctor unlocked the door, and patted her shoulder gently as she departed.

"I should go too," Jack said, "got to see what they decide about John and Keira. I forgot to remind them that murder wasn't one of the options!"

"Jack." The Doctor was standing very still, watching him.

"Fine." Jack held up his hands. "If Donna's happy the way she is, that's great. And I am too. Really. Have to be, don't I? I mean, I've got a lot to time to learn to live with it."

He stopped suddenly, feeling that same feeling that had haunted him for the last few days...tendrils of shadows across his eyes...a coldness spreading through his body.

"Jack?"

"I'm fine."

"Stop saying that," the Doctor said quietly.

"I will be." He stepped back, feeling the coolness of the wall behind him and tried not to look as though he was leaning against it.

"You haven't...?" the Doctor began, glancing at his coat pocket.

"No! I gave them to you! _All_ of them! Maybe it just needs a while." Or maybe it was too late. _What had he done?_

"Do you think it was really the Feyad influencing me?" He tried to keep the hope out of his voice. "Because I'm not sure, Doctor. It seems too easy just to blame someone else."

"Jack, sit down before you collapse."

The Doctor knelt in front of him.

"Feyads act on your desires so for you to do what you did, the desire had to be there. You know that. But they twist it. Look at me."

"What?"

"Three humans trapped in the middle of the Time War." The Doctor closed his mouth firmly after saying those words, as if to stop himself from saying anymore.

"The Fayeds didn't do that though..." Jack stopped and started again. "I mean, they _did_. But not because of you."

"They twist your feelings and emotions until you end up with a sort of tunnel vision. Something you've learned to live _with_ suddenly becomes intolerable. Something you've taught yourself to happily live without becomes something you need above anything else. How three humans survived so long in their midst..." He shook his head and looked at Jack

"How are you feeling?"

"Yeah...surviving." Jack forced himself to sit up and face the Doctor properly.

_With any luck._

.......................................................

Next to her, John looked as lost and despondent as she felt. Jenny had not left their side and now as they were joined now by the rest of the Torchwood team, Keira was grateful to the young girl for her support. Something in Jenny seemed as disorientated and uncertain as they were but she had no idea how ask her about it. From what she could understand, Jenny, the Doctor and Donna travelled time and space together and certainly the scans had proved none of them to be entirely human. Keira sighed. Just thinking about it made her feel tired. Was there actually any point to Torchwood when it seemed to take alien beings to come and sort out human errors?

Jenny was talking animatedly to Gwen.

"I wish you could have seen my ship! It was pretty basic to start off with but I messed around with it! By the time I went to Earth for the first time, it could not only detect life forms wherever I went, it could tell me how near human they might be!"

_Messed around with it!_ Keira stared at Jenny wondering how the girl could seem so young and so old at the same time.

"You were looking for humans?" Gwen asked.

"I was looking for my father," Jenny replied, "but I figured that he seemed to spend a lot of his time with humans so it was a good place to start."

"It's strange," John said, "to think of travelling in space and having the choice to go wherever you want. We had no choice at all."

"I didn't really either, in the end," Jenny said, "I thought I could. I thought, if I could control one ship, I could anything in the whole of time and space. Just set out, find my father and along the way, do everything he did. Everywhere I went though, all I learned was how much I didn't know. In the end, staying in one place, even as a hostage, seemed the best way to stay alive until I could find him." She broke off, staring into space for a moment.

"You did very well, from what I heard," Martha said gently.

Jenny seemed to shake herself back to the present and she looked directly at Keira and John.

"At least now, we can start learning," she said slowly.

.....................................

"_Dying?_ I wasn't..._I'm not_..."

"Let's make sure of that, shall we? Because if anything untoward did happen to you, there's a team of people out there I certainly wouldn't want to face!"

"Untoward!" Jack snorted. "There's been plenty of untoward in my life so far! And a lot more to come!"

As the Doctor scanned him with the screwdriver, he felt a slight warmth creep through the chill.

"So? Will I live to see your 1000th birthday?"

"A fixed point in time and space," the Doctor murmured.

"Yeah. What else was it you called me? Oh yeah, _wrong_, that was it."

"No one's perfect."

Jack gave a short laugh then looked seriously at the Doctor.

"I asked you once if you knew what I'd look like in a million years. What I meant to ask was...what will the _universe_ look like in a million years?"

"Jack, one day you'll have done so much travelling, you'll know exactly what it's going to look like. Hundreds and hundreds of years travelling and there's just a few constants. One of them is this...there will always be a team. Call them what you like. Maybe they're scattered across the universe. Maybe you only see them once in lifetime...or only in your dreams."

"_That's_ comforting."

The Doctor went on as if he hadn't spoken.

"But there's always someone looking out for you, and someone to look out for and if you're very lucky, they might even be the same person."

..........................................................

Martha was approaching the TARDIS as Jack came out.

"Can I go in?" she asked. "I really want to talk to the Doctor. I keep thinking I should, you know, explain myself or something, for forgetting him."

"And I keep telling you, there's no need," Jack told her, "go on in."

He paused in front of a camera with a clear view of the vault. Mickey and Gwen had taken charge of administering redcon and releasing the prisoners. Even the Weevils had been transported back to their respective gutters. Well, you had to be honourable about these things. None of them had been doing anything that warranted capture so they might as well enjoy some freedom before they _did_. The mates of the Zinan that Jenny had killed..._that_ would take a bit of sorting out but somehow the prospect didn't faze him as he had to admit it would have days ago.

"So," Ianto had stepped up beside him, "can I say you're looking better?"

"I'm feeling better."

As soon as he said it, he realised it was true. It was like a dark cage had been lifted from around him. The bleakness of the last few weeks was sharper and clearer when he thought about it, whereas at the time, he'd felt so empty it was like there really wasn't any other feeling.

"You're not going to tell me it was just a dose of 'flu then?"

Jack indicated to him to walk and as they made their way back towards the vaults, he said,

"No. But I am going to tell you, and only you, ok?"

Ianto nodded.

"On the Viran ship...you remember my report? I drank a vial of Huon particles. Disgusting stuff. It nearly killed me."

Ianto nodded again, with a small smile.

"No." Jack stopped him. "I mean it, Ianto. It nearly _killed_ me. Really. It's hard to describe what happens when something happens that _should_ kill me. I feel the pain and the damage but at the same time, I feel my body begin to heal itself, sometimes even before I lose consciousness. When I drank those particles, I could literally feel my organs shutting down."

"You never said."

"No. I didn't."

"So that's been affecting you?"

"Not quite." Jack took a breath, struggling to phrase what he wanted to say. "I've been dosing myself with them ever since."

"_What?"_

"Yeah. Seems that Feyad unlocked a self-destruct button in me somewhere!" He gave a small laugh and stopped when he saw Ianto's expression.

"The irony is that I wasn't doing it because I wanted to die. I was doing it to stay alive."

"I don't understand."

"You do! Think about it, Ianto. Why do you do this job when you know, _you _of all people, what can happen to you? No aspect of this job is safe! You could go out there tomorrow after something you know nothing about, never knowing if it's got some really foolproof way to kill you before you even get close!"

"Perks are pretty good."

Jack grinned at him. "_And_...what other job could compare to this, right? The adrenaline! The never knowing what's going to happen. That second when you don't know if you'll come out alive? What do you feel?"

Ianto got it, he could see that.

"Alive," he breathed.

"Yes! Being so close to being mortal again..._feeling it_...I couldn't get it out of my head. I kept thinking, maybe one more dose...not enough to kill me outright...just enough to destroy whatever it is that makes me immortal. Huon particles are really strong, Ianto, and so is whatever it is that makes me unable to die. I thought that if I diluted one, it might dilute the other, if you get me. I don't know what I was thinking. The Doctor's always said that Huon particles, in the right environment, could be one of strongest forces in the universe and there I was, thinking if I just tweaked them this way and that, I could make them do whatever I wanted...Ianto!"

Ianto had turned away from him but abruptly, he turned back.

"Where are they now? The particles?"

"Gone. The Doctor has them and he'll incorporate them back into the TARDIS. It's the only place they can be completely harmless. Out here, Donna and Jenny are deadly allergic to them."

"And you appear to be addicted to them."

"I was addicted to what I thought they could do for me. I didn't realise it then but every time I looked at that Feyad, she showed me something I can never have and made me think that I _could_. Deepest desires, remember? She was taunting all of us in one way or another."

"Yeah." Ianto looked at the ground. "Maybe that was why I didn't forget you."

"Lucky for us you didn't. I knew you'd do everything you could to make sure everyone stayed safe."

"Are you still...I mean..."

"I'm still the same," Jack said, "immortal as ever! The Doctor checked me over."

"Bet you enjoyed that." Ianto turned away again.

Jack put a hand on his arm.

"Ianto...if you stay in the room for another while, I'll say something right sooner or later."

For a moment, Ianto didn't move. Then he lifted his head and offered the shadow of a smile.

"We could be waiting quite a while then."

...........................................................................

John stood up and looked at the Doctor.

"We know how it works," he said heavily, "if you want to lock us up, that's fine. We won't fight you. But...all we do ask is that you don't separate us, _please_."

Martha turned to look at the Doctor who inclined his head slightly.

"Jack said we could decide," She told John and Keira, "and we have. You have two choices. We can set you up here and now with new identities, new lives, whatever. You never worked for Torchwood. You live an ordinary life and we keep an eye on you while you do it."

Keira inhaled sharply.

"And the second?"

"You run Torchwood 4. Moira's gone. You're all that's left. But if that's what you want, you also have to understand that we can't let you walk out of here and do your own thing. You'll stay here, as long as it takes, until we decide you're ready to go and until we find a team for you. A team of people who'll keep you focused on what you're doing and why you're doing it."

There was a long silence. Donna watched as Keira and John looked at each other. Eventually, Keira wiped her eyes.

"Maybe we'll never really be ready or able for anything, Martha. We're not normal...not by a long shot."

"All we're asking is that you reach a stage where you can live with that," the Doctor said.

"Will Moira ever be able to come back?" Keira asked.

"I don't know," the Doctor told her gently, "but Keira, if she does, it has to be her choice, not yours. You can never go looking for her. If you think working for Torchwood again will be all about finding her, then forget it. You need to think about this carefully and you also need to remember that if Moira ever does come back, you have to be ready and you'll have to be very, very strong."

"I know," Keira said, her voice trembling slightly. She turned to John.

"We'll always be Torchwood 4, won't we?"

He took her hand and held it tightly then turned to Martha and the Doctor.

"Thank you," he said quietly, "I give you my word; we'll help you all we can while we're here. If there's anything we can to help you get back to normal, we'll do it."

"Careful what you say!" Jack was walking towards them, Ianto at his side. "There's still plenty of Weevils waiting for a lift home! Not to mention paperwork. Has anyone done anything even vaguely resembling paperwork in the last few days?"

"That's out of the ordinary?" Gwen asked.

Ignoring her, Jack turned on two screens next to him.

"We have to get back to work, no excuses! Plenty of us here to get through it all now! Torchwood 4 working alongside us. Never thought I'd see the day! Now, what have we got here?" He leaned over the screen, Ianto staring over his shoulder.

"Very strange weather patterns in the south," he murmured, "look at it! Is that a tornado?"

"No, can't be. It's like a freak storm...no, it's fading now. Over there, look. That's definitely not normal. Martha, how is this funny?"

"It's not," Martha said hastily, and Donna turned her face away to hide her own smile.

"It's just...good to have you back."

Jack gave her a wink.

"Damn right it is! There'll be no more television cameras, I'll tell you that for a start!" He beckoned over to the screen.

"So what now?" Donna asked Jenny and the Doctor, "Do you want to drop me home for a while and continue your touring?"

"Oh I don't know," the Doctor said slowly, "you can visit home certainly! But first I think _you_ might have some touring for Jenny to do! You know, the bigger picture? Shops, popular culture, streets and houses and..."

"Strange weather patterns?"

"Wasn't even thinking about that!"

Donna turned to Jenny. "There's somewhere I'd like the Doctor to take us to show you, Jenny. I'd like you to see what my granddad just saw. Earth from the stars. _That's_ a bigger picture that some humans spend a lifetime trying to imagine. I know you can see it anytime you like but..."

"No, I'd love to," Jenny said. She looked up at the Doctor. "Is that ok?"

The question seemed to darken something in the Doctor's face, Donna noticed. Jenny was still asking, all the time and in every way she could, if her presence with them was acceptable.

"'Course it is," Donna whispered, "_And_ he knows he can study the weather from there. What's the betting he spends the whole time reporting back to Jack?"

The Doctor took one of Jenny's hands.

"Snap your fingers at the TARDIS door," he said casually to her.

"What?"

"Go on. Just give it a try."

Jenny held out her hand and snapped her fingers smartly. Behind his back, Donna watched as the Doctor did the same.

Slowly, the door creaked open.

"It worked! It opened for me!" Jenny whispered, staring at her hand.

"_Exactly_," the Doctor replied gently.

As she ran ahead, Donna whispered to the Doctor, "what if she tries that on her own? You can't be behind her every time she tries to open that door?"

"Don't have to. It'll open for her soon enough."

"What?"

"Bit of tweaking."

"You never tweaked it for me!"

"Couldn't take the chance. You might try piloting it again."

"There was an _earthquake_ on _Jupiter_. It messed up my landing. No way was that my fault! You were supposed to be finding us a spot for a good landing!"

"Next time I'll find somewhere good for a really soft landing, I promise. A giant pillow or a padded cell. Better still, a padded planet!"

"Or your head maybe? You know I can land better than you can if I put my mind to it!"

"Better than me? Is that a dare?"

Slowly, and not altogether steadily, the TARDIS vanished from sight.


End file.
